Education On The Dalton Plan

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D DDD1 DISCOS D

EDUCATION

ON

THE DALTON PLAN

ON

THE DALTON PLAN

BY

HELEN PARKHURST

EDUCATION DIRECTOR, CHIH>BEN*S UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

With an Introduction by
T. P. NUNN, M.A., D.Sc.

PHQFESSOB OF EDUCATION, UNIVKJRSXTT OF LONDON AND
HBA OF LONDON DAY TRAINING COLLEGIA

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Contributions by A

ROSA BASSETT, M.B.E., B.A.
AND JOHN EADES

NEW YORK
B. P. BUTTON & COMPANY

681 FIFTH AVENUE

COMPANY

All Rights Reserved

PrinUft in the TT<ni1,ecl fttaitt* of

DEDICATED
TO

MRS. W. MURRAY CRAKE
MRS. ANNE A. SAUNDERSON

AND

MISS BELLE RENNIE

WHOSE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT
IIAVTS MADB IT POSSIBLE TO PRESENT THE D ALT ON

LABORATORY PLAN TO THE EDUCATIONAL

* 'There is a sort of mysterious upheaval of mankind in the way
new tilings spring up, which commands our awe. At a given, hour,
anything wanted by the race makes its appearance simultaneously
from so many quarters, that the title of a single individual to
discovery is always contested arid seems clearly to belong to God
manifested through, man."

EDWARD SEQUIN.

I WISH to take this opportunity of expressing my
gratitude for the unfailing sympathy and support
accorded to me and my work by the Parents' Com-
mittee, and the Faculty of the Children's Univer-
sity School; by Ernest Jackman, Principal of
the Dalton High School; to Dr. M. V. O'Shea of
Wisconsin University; to Miss Helen Hutchins
Woist, who has assisted me in England and Amer-
ica; and to Mr. John Macrae, Vice President of
E- P. Button & Co., whose interest and foresight
brought out Miss Evelyn Dewey's book on the
Dalton Laboratory Plan, giving to the educational
public the first literature on the Dalton Plan.

Among those to whom I am indebted in Eng-
land for advice and encouragement are Sir
Michael Sadler, Mr. Edmond Holmes, Dr. C. W.
Kimmins, and Professor T. P. Nunn, who has
kindly contributed the introduction to this book.
My thanks are also due to Miss Eosa Bassett who
was the first to introduce the plan in the largest
girls* secondary school in London, and to Mr. John
Eades, head master of a large boys 9 school in
Leeds, who have contributed valuable accounts of
experiments with the Dalton Laboratory Plan.

HELEIST PABKHTTBST.

ChMrm's University School.
June,

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION. By T. P. NUNN, M.A., D.Sc.,
Professor, Department of Education, Uni-
versity of London and Head of London
Day, Training College, University of
London xi

CHAPTER

I. THE INCEPTION OF THE DALTON LABOR-
ATORY PLAN 1

II. THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 18

III. THE PLAN IN PRACTICE 34

IV* ITS APPLICATION A CONCRETE EXAMPLE . 45

V. ASSIGNMENTS How TO MAKE THEM , . 57

VL SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 72

VII. THE GKAPH METHOD OF RECOUPING

PROGEESS 134

VIII. TEACHING AND LEARNING 150

IX* A- YEAB'S EXPEBIMENT IN AN ENGLISH
SECONDARY SCHOOL. By ROSA BASSETT,
M,B,E,, M.A., Head Mistress, The County
Secondary School for Girls, Streatham . 175
ix

x CONTENTS

CHAPTER J?AQB

X. THE DALTON PLAINT FOR ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS. By JOHN EADES, Head Master,
Kirkstall Koad School, Leeds ... 190

APPENDIX

I. ASSIGNMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED IN

BKITISH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS , * 227

II. ASSIGNMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED IN THE

COUNTY SECONDARY SCHOOL, STREATHAM 249

III. SOME OPINIONS OF BRITISH ELEMENTARY
HEAD MISTRESSES AND CHILDREN ON
THE DALTON PLAN 269

INTRODUCTION

T

TEACHING and learning are correlative occupations
which have been carried on since the beginnings of
human society. In this book Miss Helen Park-
hurst inquires how they may best be adjusted to
one another, and offers a definite answer to the
question*

To many persons, teachers as well as laymen,
both inquiry and answer may seem, at this time
of day, to be superfluous. Does not everyone know
well enough what it is to be taught and to learn?
And is not discussion of so simple a matter bound
to prove one of those exercises in word-spinning
which delight pedants and cranks, but are a cause
of just irritation to -sensible people? To these
objections it is enough to reply that the matter
cannot be so simple, for it is one upon which wide
and important differences of opinion have existed,
and still exist* A fresh debate, conducted in the
practical spirit which inspires the following pages,
must therefore be useful, if it does no more than
challenge us to re-examine accepted ideas and re-
assure ourselves of their soundness. In educa-
tion, as in all the arts of life, a certain "scepticism
of the instrument" (as Mr. Wells has called it)

xii INTRODUCTION

is constantly needed if progress is not to end
in the (Stagnation of routine.

The central question about teaching and learn-
ing may be put thus : What is the proper distri-
bution of initiative and responsibility between
teacher and taught? The answer to be given ob-
viously depends upon the pupiPs natural attitude
towards learning, Ms insight (conscious or uncon-
scious) into his own needs, and the strength of his
will to satisfy them. Upon these points very pessi-
mistic views once prevailed, A boy, it was held,
cannot possibly know what is good for him, arid
having crept, like a snail, unwillingly to school,
will learn there only what he is made to learn. Ini-
tiative and responsibility belong, then, almost
wholly to his teachers. It is for them to decide
not only what' .shall be taught, but also how and
when it shall be learnt ; the boy's share In the busi-
ness is simply to perform his task or, failing
that, to pay the penalty attached to laziness, stu-
pidity, or contumacy. This theory does not ac-
tually deny that boys and girls have natural in-
terests and are keen to pursue them, but it regards
them as the foe, rather than the friend, of the
ischoolmaster. "Go and see what Budge and Tod
are doing, and tell them not to ?? expresses its
general attitude towards the initiative of youth*
As regards school learning, its working hypothesis
is the idea that the child's mind is a wax tablet
scraped clean to receive such characters as the
teacher may choose to impress on it, or (as

INTRODUCTION xiii

Dickens ' Mr* M'Choakumchild thought) an empty
vessel to be filled at Ms discretion with "imperial
gallons of fact"

In its cruder forms this view will hardly be
found now in any responsible quarter. Even Mr.
Bernard Shaw, who thinks so poorly of schools,
does not deny that boys and girls are often far
happier in them than outside. And there is no
doubt that they are happier and spend their
schooldays more profitably than they used to do
because the modern schoolmaster has, so to speak,
recognized their natural activities officially, and
allows them to be to some extent partners in the
management of their own lives in short, because
Mr. M'Choakumchild is definitely dead. Neverthe-
less, it is possible for a cynic to maintain that his
eoul goes marching on and will continue to do so
while two institutions stand which, taken together,
express the essence o his educational philosophy.
Those institutions are the customary school time-
table and the customary system of class instruc-
tion. For the time-table originated in the assump-
tion that the teacher should dictate what his pupils
are to do at every hour of their school lives, and
the class-system in the belief that he may ignore
the varied modes and rates of movement which
distinguish one mind from another, and may treat
five and twenty minds (or a hundred) as if they
were one.

Now it may be said in defence that an institution
may be very valuable, even though its origin be

3dv INTEODUCTION

disreputable; that "whatever is best administered
is best 75 ; and that, as a matter of fact, an immense
amount of good work is done in schools where no
alternative to the class method has over been
thought of. These things are doubtless true. The
old machinery has been captured by a new spirit;
but the very competence and humanity with which
it is now handled have led many observers to
"scepticism of the instrument " have led them,
that is, to doubt whether the class-method has not
pressed far beyond its limits of usefulness, and
whether it .should not be supplemented, if not
wholly replaced, by another.

Some time ago the writer of these lines ex-
pressed such doubts in a passage which since it
looks beyond the disease to a possible remedy he
may be allowed to quote :

*"You all know how a familiar word, per-
sistently -stared at .suddenly becomes almost
alarmingly -strange and meaningless how
(as William James said) it seems ^to glare
back from the page with no speculation in its
eyes. You will have something like the same
uncanny experience if you watch the opera-
tion of a school time-table after rigorously
clearing your mind of its familiar associa-
tions. From 10,15 to 11*00 twenty-five souls
are simultaneously engrossed in the theory

*From a Presidential Address to the Mathematical Assoclft-
tiozu Printed in the Mathematical Qtwtte for March, 1918,

INTRODUCTION rv

of quadratic equations ; at the very stroke of
tlie hour their interest in this subject suddenly
expires, and they all demand exercise in
French phonetics ! Like the agreement of ac-
tors on the stage, i their unanimity is wonder-
ful 7 but also, when one comes to think of it,
ludicrously artificial. Can we devise no way
of conducting our business that would bring
it into .better accord with the natural ebb and
flow of interest and activity? It may be that
the specialist system, often a tireless compli-
cation of the present arrangements, would
make a fluid organization perfectly feasible.
There must istill be, no doubt, certain fixed
periods for collective work; but during the
rest of the day each specialist's room might
be a * pupil room* in which boys or girls of
all standing would work, singly or in groups,
in independence of one another, and for vari-
able lengths of time. It would, of course, be
necessary to record each pupil's progress and
to .see that he followed a reasonable pro-
gramme of studies, but I find no reason why;
in such matters methods like those of the
Caldecott Community should not be universa-
lized."

Years before these words were uttered the
speaker, like numberless other teachers, had
worked something like this plan with a group of
senior pupils j and he had before Ms mind, of

xvi INTRODUCTION

course, Professor Dewey's work and Miss
Mason 7 s ? and especially the striking reforms in
the education of young children inspired by Dr.
Montessori. But he was quite unaware that what
he put forward as a dream of the future was, while
he spoke, an actual fact on the farther side of the
Atlantic- It was left to Miss Belle Bonnie to add
to her many services to progress in education by
bringing Miss Parkhurst's courageous and well-
thought-out experiment to the notice of British
teachers.

Miss Eennie's brief account of the "Dalton
Laboratory Plan" appeared in the Education Sup-
plement of The Times in May, 1920, and her
swollen post-bag began at once to show how widely
dissatisfaction with the class-method is spread and
hx>w many teachers are looking for a better instru-
ment of instruction. One month later, a large-
scale repetition of the American experiment was
initiated by Miss Rosa Bassett at the Streatham
County Secondary School; in August the first vin-
tage of her results were discussed at the Cardiff
meeting of the British Association. Thereafter,
interest grew so rapidly that, in July, 1921, when
Miss Parkhurst came to England, accommodation
could not be found for all who wished to hear her
expound the "plan," .and when Miss^ Bassett
opened the doors of her school to inquirers for
three days the roads of Streatham were encum-
bered with over two thousand pilgrims !

Nothing need be said here about the plan itself,

INTRODUCTION xvii

for Miss Parkhurst explains it with careful de-
tail in the following chapters, and Miss Bassett
has added an account of her experience in adapt-
ing it to the conditions of a large English secon-
dary school It is, however, permissible to one
who has the honour of introducing the book to its
public, to commend the scientific temper in which
it is written. Miss Parkhurst has envisaged a
definite problem of great practical importance:
namely, how to secure from the vast volume of
educational effort expended in schools a richer
.harvest of individual culture and efficiency. The
"Dalton Laboratory Plan" is her solution. No
one recognises more clearly than she that there are
others, and that her own is not final, but is sus-
ceptible of useful modification and development.
"When Dr. Montessori's work became known in this
country, the movement towards what is somewhat
barbarously called " auto-education" received a
remarkable impulse. Everywhere reformers are
now busy opening up and exploring new ways of
conducting the ancient work of education. Some
are " wilder comrades," .sworn to cut themselves
off from the old tradition and everything that
belongs to it. These may regard as a miserable
compromise a scheme which does not demand even
the abolition of public examinations! But to no
less adventurous spirits, who would hasten slowly
and keep on firm ground, the "Dalton Plan" offers
a path of progress which may safely be taken by;

xviii INTRODUCTION

all who have the gifts of intelligence, devotion, and
enterprise*

Boldness and originality are typical qualities of
American education, and we may hope that the
present close and happy association between an
American teacher and the English men and women
who are following her lead may also become typ-
ical. Typically American,, too, is the generosity
which has prompted Miss Parklmrst to assign her
pecuniary interest in this book to a noble English
institution the Heritage Craft School for Crip-
pled Children at Chailey. On all grounds we may
wish good-speed to her enterprise.

T* R Ntnsrar.

UNIVBESITY OF LONDON,
April,

EDUCATION

ON

THE DALTON PLAN

EDUCATION ON THE
DALTON PLAN

CHAPTER I
THE IisrcEPTioiff OF THE DALTOK LABOBATOBY PLAINT

American thinkers Emerson was one of the
first to realize and to point out that onr educa-
tional system was a failure because the ideals
upon which it had been founded had lost their
meaning. " We are students of words/' he wrote,
"we are shut up in schools and colleges and reci-
tation rooms for ten or fifteen years and come
out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words,
and do not know a thing. ' ' In a recent interview
Thomas Edison, whose only formal education con-
sisted of "some instruction from his mother"
echoed this indictment. "The possibilities for
the development of the human brain are/' he said,
"almost infinite. But the important thing is
not to make young children study the thing they
don't like, for the moment school is not as inter-

2 THE DALTON PLAN

esting as play it is an injury. I don't know exactly
at what age a child's mind atrophies, but it is
somewhere between eleven and fourteen* If yon
make a child study things he doesn't care for,
and keep this up until he is fourteen, his brain will
be impaired forever. Children naturally like to
learn. They possess great curiosity but they must
be interested in the subject Our educational
methods fail to do this. Change these methods,
and many more 'freaks' will be produced. I am
a * freak' myself/'

Is it any wonder therefore that in the United
States, where every man can be educated at the
expense of his state, the percentage of failures in
colleges and universities is said to be greater to-
day than at any previous time in our history*
Formerly when the educational field was much
narrower than it is now only a selected few wont
to college. They were the mental superiors in each
family, chosen for their supposed fitness to enjoy
the benefits of higher education. Thus they were
judged and labelled as superior specimens even be-
fore they were submitted to the educational proc-
ess. As a result they returned from college more
or less as they went into it. Education "was at
that time considered a privilege and the educated
became automatically a class apart, exempt from
criticism. Their crystallized attitude, which school
had only served to confirm, cut them off from the
simpler men and women whose off spring they
;were. How oould they have anything in common

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 3

with the parental struggle and sacrifice wMch had
made it possible for them to enjoy these advan-
tages ? They were, if anything, less able to share
the common lot, having bartered their simplicity
for a pedestal of intellectual passivity which ren-
dered them useless to society at home or at large.

That was the United States of yesterday* To-
day the very meaning of education has changed.
It is no longer regarded as an end In itself and for
every single individual who set out in search of
it in the past there are now fifty. So universal is
.the demand for education that the minority which
remains indifferent to its advantages has become
negligible. With schools and colleges filled to
overflowing educationalists are face to face with
new problems, both spiritual and material. The
demand is not only infinitely greater than ever
before, but it is also a different kind of demand.
In the old days the student went to school to get
what the school had to offer him; now he goes to
school to satisfy a definite need for self-develop-
ment. He is no longer disposed to learn just what
the teacher proposes to teach. The mould that
has done for past generations of pupils will no
longer do for him.

Unfortunately the men and women who work by
the old system and live by it are not only naturally
interested in its preservation but they almost in-
inevitably lose the power to judge of it imper-
iisonally. Their minds become encrusted like the
system itself. And though there are many sincere

4 THE DALTON PLAN

and well-disposed persons among them they are
apt to become, through devoting all their energies
to the task of " keeping up the old traditions, 77
incapable of re-kindling the torch of truth. Snch
people continue to regard themselves as the conse-
crated leaders of youth leaders whose authority
cannot be disputed. They continue to judge the
new and varied crowd of students by the -same old
standards. Nothing will induce them to scrap the
outworn routine for a fresh and vital method made
to fit a fresh and vital humanity.

More criticism of the educational system comes
from the parents of pupils. On every side one
hears the question asked, "What has my daughter
got out of her college training? 77 and again, "How
has the university fitted my son for the battle of
life? 77 The answer of the schools that they pro-
vide "experience 77 is only valid after a definition
of what experience really is. The pioneers of the
early days of American history were usually men
who were quite uneducated in the academic sense
of the word. Experience was their only school*
Their inborn talents alone enabled them to learn
the supreme lesson of life. They were the sur-
vivors who fought and conquered. But what of
those who fell In the battle and who might with
the aid of some educational experience have
given a good account of themselves! To-day we
cannot afford so high a proportion of derelicts*
We have got to find some way of expanding and
strengthening the natural talents of the average

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 5

boy before he goes forth into the wide struggle
for life and success. We haye got to provide op-
portunities for the average girl to learn not only
how to develop her intellect but also how to con-
duct herself as a unit of society.

In order to acquire thes two kinds of expe-
rience while we are still immature beings a fa-
vourable environment is the first essential. On
this point Edwin G. Conklin writes in an illuminat-
ing way in his book Heredity and Environment.
According to this author "Only that environment
and training are good which lead to the develop-
ment of good habits and traits or to the suppres-
sion of bad ones. . , * In general the best envi-
ronment is one which avoids extremes, one which
is neither too easy nor too hard, one which pro-
duces maximum efficiency of mind and body."

u ln education we are strangely blind to proper
aims and methods. Any education is bad which
leads to the formation of habits of idleness, care-
lessness, failure, instead of industry, thorough-
ness and success. Any religion or social institu-
tion is bad which leads to habits of pious make-
believe, insincerity, slavish regard for authority
and disregard for evidence, instead of habits of
sincerity, open-mindedness and independence."

These are the beacon lights towards which
education should tend. By its works on the pupils
we shall know it. Has our educational system suc-
ceeded in making the children upon whom it has
been imposed industrious, sincere, open-minded

6 THE DALTON PLAN

and independent? The answer must certainly "be
in the negative. This is not, however, to say that
those qualities can only be developed at the sacri-
fice of the old and purely cultural values to the
attainment of which the efforts of educationalists
have "been hitherto exclusively devoted. It is pos-
sible to inculcate a respect for learning and the de-
sire for a high level of cultural development and
at the same time to breed in the young that moral
istamina upon which Edwin Conklin sets such price
and which is indispensable to good and abundant
living. But this twin ideal will only "bo reached
if .school life is modified as so to include training
in real experience that experience for which a
craving exists in every youthful heart* The child
must "be fortified to solve the problems of child-
hood before he comes face to face with the problem
of youth and maturity* He can only do this if
education is designed to give him such freedom
and responsibility as will permit him to tackle
them for and by himself. Experience is that and
nothing more. Without it no development of
character is possible, and without character no
problems can be satisfactorily solved at any age,
The child, cramped and frustrated by the rales
and regulations of our educational system, never
gets to grips with experience in any form* He
neither learns to master his own difficulties nor the
difficulties bred of contact with his fellows* ^

It is indeed almost impossible to over-estimate
the value of .such experience to the child as to the

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 7

adult. It tests as nothing else can test the moral
and intellectual fibre of the individual. It shapes
and tempers his thoughts, sharpens and enlarges
his judgment, teaching at the same time the most
important lesson of all. self-discipline as the in-
dividual conies into relation with other individu-
als. Group consciousness grows out of this social
experience. Only by bringing it into the daily
lives of our children can we give back to school
life that zest and purpose and interest which it
has lost.

One day when an express train was bearing me
away from New York for a much-needed and long-
anticipated holiday, a remark thrown out by a
fellow passenger distracted me from my observa-
tion of the rapidly receding landscape.

"Would you believe it?" he exclaimed, "that
upon a modern railroad less than eighty years old
such as this, education and instruction are only
just beginning to take the place of discipline and
criticism? We used to suspend unsatisfactory
workmen. Now we are trying to understand them
and already we have far less trouble. "

If the speaker had been a professor instead
of a railroad official as he proceeded to tell me he
w - as iii$ ^rords would have caused me less sur-
prise. But ho had turned an unexpected search-
light upon the very problems that were then en-
gaging my attention. As he had no idea I was
an educationalist I eagerly grasped this oppor-
tunity to get an outside opinion upon them. At

8 THE DALTON PLAN

that moment the train flew past a band of workmen
in the act of doing their job.

"Look at those men," continued my companion,
"they've not the slightest idea of the best way to
handle their work"

"Why not?" I inquired.

"Because the handling of the job belongs to the
foreman. It is his duty to think for the gang.
A labourer who thinks for himself would soon be
voted a nuisance. The foreman would resent any-
one telling him how to run his job and the mart
would probably be fired. Yet how much better
the result would be if the labourer looked upon
the job as his own and felt responsible for it. In
that case the foreman would become a helper in-
stead of a driver. ' *

Our discussion ranged over station clerks,
brakemen, and engineers their training and in-
terest in the great railroad system of which they
were like cogs in the wheels. And as we talked I
felt that my problem and his problem were really
the same.

Finally I ventured to ask his opinion of his
chief, the President of the road. The reply came
in a different tone, quick with enthusiastic admi-
ration.

"Oh I He's another ^ort altogether. We've a
a president who knows how. He looks ahead and
plans with that rare ability built up by experience,
"Why, when he begins to talk you soon find he's
left you and your ideas as far behind as this train

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 9

has left those labourers- Yes our president's
one In a million a fearless human being!"

The phrase sank into my heart, for isn't that
just what we educationalists are trying to create
fearless Jiwma%^einci$$ Life needs them, the
world needs them because there are never enough
to go round. They are so rare those men and
women who can look ahead and plan who know
how!

For years before that train journey I had been
asking myself whether, how, and when that kind
of fearless human being could be evolved. My
first experience of teaching came to me in a rural
.school where forty pupils were divided into eight
grades or classes. I had thus to provide occu-
pation for seven classes while I gave oral instruc-
tion to one class. To get every pupil busy on
something until I could overlook his work oc-
curred to me as the best solution of the difficulty.
To make this plan a success I had to get the older
children to help the little ones. They, and espe-
cially the big boys, responded to my appeal. With
their assistance I transformed a storeroom into a
library. Each corner of the school room I marked
off for each different subject. In addition to the
converted storeroom, we possessed a garden and
a hall which was soon doing duty as a playroom.
Even, in that stolid backwoods community no one
objected to these unconventional experiments be-
cause they were a success. The attendance rose
rapidly; the children were orderly and obedient,

10 THE DALTON PLAN

and they worked with a will. Some of my popu-
larity was due to my father, who used to tell them
Indian stories when he came to fetch me every
Friday. But the school authorities also showed
their approval of the results attained, for at the
end of the school term they reported me as "com-
petent and of good steady habits. "

Later on as instructor in a High School, Pri-
mary Schools, Normal Training Schools and a
Training College I found myself up against other
difficulties, and though I constantly exercised my
ingenuity in seeking a solution for them I was
never satisfied. It is no wonder therefore that
when in 1908 a former instructor gave me a copy
of Edgar James Swift's book Mind in the Making
I was impressed by the ideas it contained.

That book influenced me and my work pro-
foundly. I owe to it my first conception of "edu-
cational laboratories. ? > After reading it over ancl
over again I always returned to the two passages
which seemed to contain the key to my special
problems. The first ran as follows :

"The rational method is to work with fhe
students, inspiring them with longing to delve
into things for themselves azifi to make their
contribution to the common *fund of knowl-
edge, to be discussed or clarified in the reci-
tation.* The didactic method belongs to the
Middle Ages. It still dominates our schools^

* Oral lesson.

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 11

though, the conditions that made it serviceable
have long since passed. Mental expansion of
the teachers themselves is the first step to-
wards removing this medieval debris. They
will then investigate their pupils, the school-
room will become an educational laboratory,
and activity will not be limited to the manual
training department. The influence of sug-
gestion through environment has never re-
ceived its proper recognition in education.
Teachers want to play a too conspicuous part
in the mentations of the pupils. But the educa-
tor is limited, in the ends he may pre-elect, by
the complexity of human life. The very child
whose qualities he disapproves of may be the.
germ of a man much beyond his own mental
reach."

To me the second passage which I quote was
scarcely less illuminating. "Thus far educational
experiments have been too detached and fragmen-
tary. The few who have undertaken them
were already burdened with heavy work which
occupied most of their day. This left little leisure
or energy for working out details or for a critical
study of the results. In many instances lack of
time forced the abandonment of the experiment
before its completion. This is the result of failure
to appreciate the importance of the work. Edu-
cation has been hitherto too absorbed in its his-
tory* Teachers are constantly straining their eyes

12 THE DALTON PLAN

by looking over their shoulders at Pestalozzi,
Froebel and Herbart, instead of looking forward
to new achievements. As a result pedagogy is
always on the defensive against the charge of
vagueness, romanticism and particularly inade-
quacy. Economy of energy is quite as truly a
problem for education as for mechanics. Efficiency
the ratio of useful work to the energy spent in
accomplishing it may be increased by lessening
the resistance, or by applying more power^ and
teachers have occupied themselves too exclusively
mth producing power. "

It was Edgar Swift's book, Ivhich I gave to
every student who seemed likely to understand it,
that made me take the firm resolution to become
a free lance in education as soon as I could, with
leisure enough to experiment in the search for a
new and better way*

Three years later I began to realize that ambi-
tion by drafting a plan of work for children be-
tween eight and twelve years of age to be carried
out in the first "educational laboratory. " A col-
league in a Normal Training College consented to
collaborate with me while professing scepticism as
to the practicability of my plan. But the fear of
being condemmed as a revolutionary at war
against hallowed traditions prevented my discuss-
ing the new method in the classroom, though 1
tried to explain it outside school to a chosen band
(of students.

From its inception, the laboratory plan, as I

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 13

continued to call it even after perfecting it in 1913,
aimed at the entire reorganization of school life.
My idea was to substitute for the top-heavy ma-
chinery actually in use a simple reconstruction
of school procedure under which the pupils would
enjoy more freedom as well as an environment
better adapted to the different sections of their
studies in which each instructor should be a spe-
cialist. Above all I wanted to equalize the pupil's
individual difficulties and to provide the same op-
portunity for advancement to the slow as to the
bright child. By 1913 we had worked out the lab-
oratory plan .so as to partially eliminate the time
table, but it was not until 1915 that we were able
to get rid of it entirely. In 1913 we began by or-
ganizing the pupils into groups with a free choice
of laboratories. That was in itself a great in-
novation, though they were still obliged to remain
in isolated groups* It took me two years more to
work out the full interaction of groups upon each
other.

I was fortunate in always securing for my ex-
periments the .sympathy and encouragement of
the heads of various institutions with which I was
.connected. My role of supervisor enabled me to
,gain experience in the problems of organization
as well as in the problems of method. Of still
greater value were the occasions afforded me to
watch the developments of other experiments, and
my petitions for leave of absence for this purpose
were never refused* In 1914 I applied for per-

14 THE DALTON PLAN

mission to go to Italy in order to investigate the
Montessori method. After that experience I took
part in the application of this method in Califor-
nia in 1915. On that occasion I acted as Dr. Mon-
tessori *s assistant, and while a member of her
household I attended four training courses. Dur-
ing this period of my career I enjoyed, through the
courtesy of Dr. Frederic Burk and Ms interest
in my work the satisfaction of making a practical
test of my laboratory plan upon a selected group
of one hundred children, between the ages of nine
and twelve.

Between December 1915 and January 1918, hav-
ing accepted the charge of looking after Dr. Mon-
tessori '& interests in America, I was obliged to
abandon temporarily my experiments with the
laboratory idea. But I eagerly resumed them after
resigning this charge with the financial support
of the Child Education Foundation, which I at
that time directed. By that time I felt I had
devoted sufficient istudy to the individual aspect of
education. The school in its aspect of a human,
isociety then engrossed my energy.

It was in September 1919, just fifteen years
after my first experience in teaching, that I was
able to see the laboratory plan applied in an un-
graded school for crippled boys. For me it was
a great moment, and I can never be sufficiently
grateful to those who unselfishly gave me an op-
portunity to put my plan into practice. I might, of
course, have found other schools where the expert*

INCEPTION OP THE DALTON PLAN 15

ment in its entirety could have been tried upon
unhandicapped children. But both I myself and
fay friend, Mrs. W. Murray Crane, were actuated
by the desire to give those cripples all the
joy and happiness that could possibly be in-
cluded in education. As trnstee of that cripple
school which .she had helped to found and to en-
dow, and as chairman of its Educational Com-
mittee, Mrs. "W. Murray Crane deserves all the
admiration I can express. Some months pre-
viously she had asked me to make any suggestions
that occurred to me for the improvement of the
school. It seemed to me then that the laboratory
plan was just what it needed, and when in No-
vember 1918 I explained the plan to her she under-
stood and believed in it from the very first. Some
months later I visited the Cripple School and by
the autumn of 1919 the plan was in operation
there. Very soon it bore good fruit and aroused
interest in many quarters. To me that experience
was invaluable, for it was there I discovered that
some device for checking progress of each pupil
was a necessity* It was there I invented the
Graphs which I will deal with in a later chapter.
With the aid of these graphs I found it possible
to isimplify the organization and to perfect the
interaction of the various groups.

Our success with the cripples inspired Mrs.
Crane with the ambitious project of applying the
laboratory plan to the boys and girls of the High
School in her home town at Dalton, Massachusetts.

16 THE DALTON PLAN

In February 1920 that ambition was realized.
Soon after we had started on the new method, Dai-
ton High School received the visit of Mrs.
Saunderson, bringing with her Miss Belle Bennie
of London, one of the pioneers of the new educa-
tional ideas in England. Miss Eennie 's interest in
my work led her to write about it alter her return
to London, and fearing that my cherished term
" laboratory" might be misunderstood, I then
decided to call my plan the Dalton Laboratory
Plan, by which it has since been known.

I admit that the word laboratory may seem to
-some people inappropriate, because hitherto it has
been associated exclusively with scientific experi-
ments. But to me the word is most significant, and
I cling to it advisedly in the hope that it may grad-
ually shift the educational point of view away
from the atmosphere of prejudice and moribund
theories which the word "school 77 calls up in our
minds. Let us think of school rather as a socio-
logical laboratory where the pupils themselves are
the experimenters, not the victims of an intricate
and crystallized system in whose evolution they
have neither part nor lot* Let us think of it as a
place where community conditions prevail as they
prevail in life itself.

From Dalton we went on to conquer fresh fields.
I am greatly indebted to a group of friends, espe-
cially Mrs. James T. Pyle, for their faith and help
in the early days. Later, through the generosity
of Mr. and Mrs, W. Murray Crane, the Children *s

INCEPTION OF THE DALTON PLAN 17

University School was founded with the avowed
object of demonstrating what the Dalton plan
could do to re-vitalize education to make it a
living thing capable of arousing and preserving
the interest of pupils in their work. Here it
was first applied to children of pre-adolescent age.
To their co-operation and to their criticism I also
owe much. Even before discussing the plan in de-
tail with my associates I presented it to the chil-
dren and^nvited their opinion upon it. Their sug-
gestions were extremely valuable. It was, in fact,
the pupils themselves who showed me the way to
correct several points in which it was defective.
Thus at the very outset the principle of freedom
in education for those whom we aspire to educate
justified itself.

CHAPTER II
THE PLAN" IK PRINCIPLE

BBOADLY .speaking the old type of school may be
said to stand for culture, while the modern type
of school stands for experience. The Dalton Lab-
oratory Plan is primarily a way whereby both
these aims can be reconciled and achieved*

The acquisition of culture is a form of expe-
rience, and as such is an element in the business
of living with which school ought to be as inti-
mately concerned as is adult existence^ But it will
never become so until the school as a whole is re-
organized so that it can function like a community
a community whose essential condition is free-
dom for the individual to develop himself.

This ideal freedom is not license, still less in-
discipline. It is, in fact, the very reverse of both.
The child who "does as he likes" is not a free
child. He is, on the contrary, apt to become the
slave of frad habits, -selfish and quite unfit for com-
munity life. Under these circumstances he needs
some means of liberating his energy before he
can grow into a harmonious, responsible being,
able and willing to lend himself consciously to co-
operation with his fellows for their common bone-

18

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 19

fit. The Dalton Laboratory Plan provides that
means by diverting his energy to the pursuit and
organization of his own studies in his own way.
It gives him that mental and moral liberty which
we recognize as so necessary on the physical plane
in order to insure his bodily well-being. Anti-
social qualities and activities are, after all, merely
misdirected energy.

J^edqm is therefore the first principle of the
Dalton Laboratory Plan. From the academic^ or
cultured, point of view, the pupil must be made
free to continue his work upon any subject in
which he is absorbed without interruption, because
when interested he is mentally keener, more alert,
and more capable of mastering any difficulty that
may arise in the course of his study. Under the
new method there are no bells to tear him away
at an appointed hour and chain him pedagogically
to another subject and another teacher. Thus
treated, the energy of the pupil automatically runs
to waste. Such arbitrary transfers are indeed as
uneconomic as if we were to turn an electric stove
on and off at stated intervals for no reason. Un-
less a pupil is permitted to absorb knowledge at
his own rate of speed he will never learn anything
thoroughly. Freedom is taking his own time. To
take someone else's time is slavery.

The second principle of the Dalton Laboratory
Plan is <?q-operation or, as I prefer to call it, Ee
interaction of group life. There is a passage in
Dr. John Dewey's Democracy and Education

30 THE DALTON PLAN

which admirably defines this idea. "The object
of a democratic education/ 1 he writes, "is not
merely to make an individual an intelligent par-
ticipator in the life of his immediate group, but
to bring the various groups into such constant in-
teraction that no individual, no economic group,
could presume to live independently of others."

Under the old educational .system a pupil can.
and often does live outside his group, touching it
only when he passes in company with his fellows
over the common mental highway called the curric-
ulum. This easily ends in his becoming anti-
social, and if .so he carries this handicap with him
when he leaves school for the wider domain of life.
Such a pupil may even be "an intelligent partic-
ipator" in the life of his form or class, just as
a teacher may be* But a democratic institution
demands more than this* Real social living is
more than contact; it is co-operation and inter-
action. A ^school cannot reflect the social expe-
rience which is the fruit of community life unless
all its parts, or groups, develop those intimate
relations one with the other and that interdepend-
ence which, outside school, binds men and nations
together.

Conditions are created by the Dalton Labora-
tory Plan in which the pupil, in. order to enjoy
them, involuntarily functions as a member of a
social community. He is accepted or rejected by
this community according as his functioning, or
conduct is social or the reverse. The law operates

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 21

in school just as it does in tlie world of men and
women. To "be effective this law must not "be im-
posed, but unwritten, an emanation as it were of
the atmosphere breathed by the community. The
value of community life lies in the service it ren-
ders in making each free individual composing it
perpetually conscious that he, as a member, is a co-
worker responsible to, and for, the whole.

This constitutes a problem in school procedure.
It should be so organized that neither pupil nor
teacher can isolate themselves, nor escape their
due share in the activities and in the difficulties
of others. We all know the teachers who hang up
their personality each morning as they hang up
their coats* Outside school these people have
human interests and human charm which they do
not dare to exhibit when with their pupils
lest they should in so doing .seem to abro-
gate their authority- The Dalton Laboratory Plan
has no use for the parade of such fictitious au-
thority, which is restrictive, not educative. In-
stead of promoting order it provokes indiscipline.
It is fatal to the idea of a school as a vital social
unit.

Equally, from the pupil's point of view, is the
child when submitted to the action of arbitratory
authority and to immutable rules and regulations,
incapable of developing a social consciousness
which is the prelude to that social experience so
indispensable as a preparation for manhood and
womanhood. Academically considered, the old

22 THE DALTON PLAN

system Is just as fatal as it Is from tlio social point
of view. A cMlrl never voluntarily undertakes
anything that he does not understand. The choice
of his games or pursuits is determined by a clear
estimate of his capabilities to excel in them. Hav-
ing the responsibility of his choice his mind
acts like a powerful microscope, taking in and
weighing every aspect of the problem ho must
master in order to ensure success. Given the same
free conditions his mind would act on the problems
of study in exactly the same way. Under the
Dalton Laboratory Plan we place the work prob-
lem squarely before him, indicating the standard
which has to be attained. After that he Is allowed
to tackle it as he thinks fit in his own way and at
Ms own speed. Responsibility for the result will
'develop not only his latent intellectual powers^
but also his judgment and character.

But in order that he may accomplish tins edu-
cative process in order that ho may be led to edu-
cate himself we must give him an opportunity
to survey the whole of the task we sot. To win the
race he must first get a clear view of the goal.
It would be well to lay a "whole twelvemonth's
work before the pupil at the beginning of the
school year. This will give him a perspective
of the plan of his education. He will thus be able
to judge of the steps he must take each month
and each week so that he may cover the whole
road ? instead of going blindly forward with no
Idea either of the road or the goal. How so hand!-*

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 23

capped can a child be expected to be interested
in the race even to desire to win it? How can
a teacher hope to turn out a well-equipped human
being unless he takes the trouble to study the
psychology of the child? Both for master and for
pupil a perception of their job is essential. Edu-
cation is, after all, a co-operative task. Their suc-
cess or failure in it is interlocked.
N[ Children learn, if we would only believe it,
just as men and women learn, by adjusting means
to ends. What does a pupil do when given, as
he is given by the Dalton Laboratory Plan, re-
tsponsibility for the performance of such and such
work? Instinctively he seeks the best way of
.achieving it. Then having decided, he proceeds to
act upon that decision. Supposing his plan does
not seem to fit his purpose, he discards it and
tries another- Later on he may find it profitable
to consult his fellow students engaged in a similar
task. Discussion helps to clarify his ideas and
also his plan of procedure. When he comes to the
end the finished achievement takes on all the splen-
dour of success. It embodies all he has thought
and felt and lived during the time it has taken
to complete. This is real experience. It is culture
acquired through individual development and
through collective co-operation. It is no longer
school it is life.

Not only will this method of education stimulate
the deepest interest and the highest powers in a
student, but it will teach him how to proportion

24 THE DALTON PLAN

effort to attainment. In his book upon the prin-
ciples of war General Foch says: "Economy of
forces consists in throwing all the forces at one ? s
disposition at a given time upon one point/ 7 So
the child's attack upon his problem of work should
be facilitated by allowing him to concentrate all
his forces upon the subject that claims his interest
at one particular moment. lie will in this case
not only do more work, but better work too. The
Dalton Laboratory Plan permits pupils to budget
their time and to spend it according to their need*

"The secret of education," $o Emerson tells us,
"lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you
to chose what he shall know, what he shall do. It
is chosen and fore-ordained and he alone holds
the key to his own secret. By your tampering and
thwarting and too much governing he may be hin-
dered from his end and kept out of his own. Ke-
spect the child. "Wait and see the new product
of nature. Nature loves analogies but not repe-
titions. Bespect the child. Be not too much Ms
parent. Trespass not on his solitude.

"But I hear the outcry which replies to this sug-
gestion: Would you verily throw up the reins
of public and private discipline ; would you leave
the young child to the mad career of his own
passions and whimsies and call this anarchy re-
spect for the child's nature? I answer; Bcnpect
the child, respect Mm to the end, but also respect
yourself. Be the companion of his thought, the
friend of Ms friendship, the lover of Ms virtue,

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 25

but no kinsman of Ms sin. He makes wild at-
tempts to explain himself, and invokes the aid and
consent of the bystanders. Baffled by want of lan-
guage and methods to convey Ms meaning, not yet
clear to himself, he conceives that though not in
this house or town, yet in some other house or
town is the wise master who can put him in pos-
session of the rules and instruments to execute
his will. Happy this child with a bias, with a
t Bought which entrances him, leads him, now into
deserts, now into cities, the fool of an idea. Let
him follow it in good and evil report, in good or
in bad company. It will justify itself ; it will lead
him at last into that illustrious (Society of the
lovers of truth.

"Cannot we let people be themselves and enjoy
life in their own way? You are trying to make
that man another you. One's enough.

U 0r we sacrifice the genius of the pupil, the
unknown possibilities of his nature, to a weak and
safe uniformity as the Turks whitewash the costly
mosaics of ancient art which the G-reeks left on
their temple walls. Rather let us have men whose
manhood is only the continuation of their boyhood,
natural character still: such are able and fertile
for heroic action; and not that sad spectacle "with
;which we are too familiar, educated eyes in un-
educated bodies.

"I like boys, the masters of the playground and
the street boys who have the same liberal ticket
of admission to all shops, factories, armouries,

26 THE DALTON PLAN

town-meetings, caucuses, mobs, target-shootings
as flies liave ; quite unsuspected, coming in as nat-
urally as the janitor known to have no money in
their pockets, and themselves not suspecting the
value of this poverty; putting nobody on his
guard, but seeing the inside of the show hearing
all the sides. There are no secrets from thorn,
they know everything that befalls in the fire com-
pany, the merits of every engine and of every man
at the brakes, how to work it, and are swift to
try their hand on every part ; so, too, the merits
of every locomotive on the rails, and will coax
the engineers to let them ride with him arid pull
the handles when it goes into the engine-housci
They are there only for fun, and not knowing that
they are at school, in the court-house, or the cattle
show quite as much and more than they were, an
hour ago, in the arithmetic class.

"They know truth from counterfeit as quick
as the chemist does. They detect weakness in your
eye and behaviour .a week be Core you open your
mouth, and have given you the benefit of their
opinion quick as a wink. They make no mistakes,
have no pedantry, but entire belief in experience.**

It is just that experience, individual and social,
which the Dalton Laboratory Plan aspires to pro-
vide within the school walls* Tho principles out-
lined in Emerson's picturesque prose are its prin-
ciples* It shows the way, and I firmly believe
the only way, to make school as attractive, and as
educative as play, and ultimately to create those

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 27

fearless human beings which, understood in the
widest sense, is our ideal.

But as liberty is an integral part of that ideal
I have carefully guarded against the temptation
to make my plan a stereotyped cast-iron thing
ready to fit any school anywhere. So long as the
principle that animates it is preserved, it can be
modified in practice in accordance with the circum-
stances of the school and the judgment of the
istaff. For this reason I refrain from dogmatizing
on what subjects should be included in the curric-
ulum, or by what standards the achievement of
pupils should be measured. Above all, I do not
want to canalize the life-blood of citizenship. On
this point I can but ,say that the curriculum of any
school should vary according to the needs of the
pupils, and even in schools where it is designed
to .serve a definite academic purpose, this aspect
should not be lost sight of as it often is. Until
the educational world wakes to the fact that
curriculum is not the chief problem of society, we
shall, I fear, continue to handicap our youth by
viewing it through the wrong end of the tele-
iscope.

To-day we think too much of curricula and too
little about the boys and girls. The Dalton Plan
is not a panacea for academic ailments. It is a,
plan through which the teacher can get at the
problem of child psychology and the pupil at the
problem of learning. It diagnoses school situations
in terms of boys and girls. Subject difficulties

28 THE DALTON PLAN

concern students, not teachers. The cir iculum Is
but our technique, a means to an end. 'lAe instru-
ment to be played upon is the boy or girl.

Under the conditions that exist in the average
school the energies of these boys and girls cannot
flow freely. The top-heavy organization has been
built up for the instructor, and with it teachers are
expected to solve their problems. But I contend
that the real problem o education is not a
teacher's but a pupil ? s problem. All the diffi-
culties that harass the teacher are created by the
unsolved difficulties of the pupils. When the latter
disappear the former will vanish also, but not be-
fore the .school organization and its attendant
machinery has been re-made for the pupil, who is
rendered inefficient and Irritable by being com-
pelled to use a mechanism that is not his own.

The first thing, therefore, is to remove all im-
pediments that prevent the pupil from getting at
his problem. Only he knows what his real diffi-
culties are, and unless he becomes skilled In dis-
persing them he will become skilled in concealing
them. Hitherto our educational system has been
content to tap the surface water of his energy.
Now we must try to reach and release the deep
well of his natural powers* In doing so wo shall
assist and encourage the expression of Ms life-
force and harness it to the work of education. This
is not to be achieved by doing the pupIPs work for
him, but by making it possible for him to do Ms
own work Harmony between teacher an-d pupil is

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 29

essential if we would avoid those emotional eon-
flicts which are the most distracting among the ills
the old type of school is heir to.

Experience of the Dalton Laboratory Plan
shows, moreover, that it is beneficial to the pupils
morally as well as mentally. Where it is put into
operation conflicts cease, disorder disappears.
The resistance generated in the child by the old
inelastic machinery to the process of learning is
transformed into acquiescence, and then into
interest and industry as >soon as he is released to
carry out the educational programme in his own
way. Freedom and responsbility together per-
form the miracle.

Briefly summarized, the aim of the Dalton Plan
is a synthetic aim. It suggests a simple and eco-
nomic way by means of which the school as a whole
can function as a community. The conditions un-
der which the pupils live and work are the chief
factors of their environment, and a favourable
environment is one which provides opportunities
for spiritual as well as mental growth* It is the
social experience accompanying the tasks, not
the tasks themselves, which stimulates and fur-
thers both these kinds of growth. Thus the
Dalton Plan lays emphasis upon the importance
of, the child *s living while he does his work, and
the manner in which he ^cts as a member of so-
ciety, rather than upon the .subjects of his curri-
culum. It is the isum total of these twin expe-

30 THE DALTON PLAN

riences which determines his character and his
knowledge.

As illustrating this line of thought I cannot do
better than cite a passage from Miss Emily
Wilson's "book entitled An Experiment in Syn<~
tlielic Education.* It is a little book which con-
tains a big message.

"The main subjects of our curriculum must be
taught synthetically that is, in their relation to
each other and not in self-contained compart-
ments. Only in the synthetic way, only by realiz-
ing and constantly emphasizing that to know
something of Man we must study and correlate his
History, his environment, his Science, Literature
and Art, can we make knowledge a living and
fruitful organism rather than a dead and barren
file

"It is necessary to emphasize a fact not suffi-
ciently appreciated; it is easier to learn at the
same time two subjects that have living relation-
ships with one another than to learn one subject
which is represented as an isolated fact having
no vital relationship with anything else. Pure
memory work is difficult and a burden to the mind.
,The moment the annual examinations are over
we forget, never to recall, those unrelated facts
with which we crammed our youthful brains* But
once a relation is established as between one sub-
ject and another, both those -subjects in so far as

* Quotation made by permission of the publishers.

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 31

they 'are alive, that is are related, are retained
with perfect ease. . . .

"That this consciousness of the inter-relation of
all subjects cannot fail to bear good frnit in the
field of ethics and religion will be obvious. For
service and co-operation are what we need to ,solve
our great political and social problems to-day, and
synthetic education that will provide that large
and comprehensive outlook which will make these
virtues a habit of thought and a practice of life.
Some such total vision must be constantly in the
fnind of the teacher, who must ever be on the look-
out for inter-relations and so .stir within the minds
of the children the faculty of creating channels
between the different territories; channels which
will fertilize the whole earth between them and
give that infinite joy which comes from the con-
sciousness of creatorship, the true function of
man, the work for which he was endowed with an
immortal spirit."

From the parent's point of view the principles
of the Dalton Plan are admirably epitomized in a,
letter recently contributed to the New York Even
ing Post by the parent of two pupils attending the
Children's University School.

To the Editor of the New TorJc Evening Post:

The Dalton Laboratory Plan is a decided

novelty. Its adoption in England before we

New Yorkers even heard about it ,shows how

82 THE DALTON PLAN

much more popular is the subject of
over there than here.

As a parent of two children 1 wish to urge
a more widespread acquaintance with the
methods worked out in the Dalton Plan. It
diagnoses the child's dislike for his studies
as not due to the studies themselves, but to
the methods used in teaching him. It does not
start out with the belief that the child has
an innate dislike for study. It is the fault of
the educational process to which he is forced
to submit which embitters his young soul
against any or all subjects indiscriminately.
The Dalton Plan is not an arbitrary process
imposed on the child without regard to his
aptitude, but is an enlistment of the child's
own interest in MB acquisition of knowledge.
The Dalton Plan elicits a new response from
the child's nature by inviting him to under-
take the job in a way that appeals to his nat-
ural desire to learn things in his own way and
even in his own time. The teacher gives him
the same friendly help and encouragement to
master his problems that one adult would
give to another in the course of business or
any undertaking of life, but the child is em-
barked on an adventure into the realms of
knowledge with his own standard flying at
the peak and his own command of his re-
sources.

There is such a thing as culture. We tress-

THE PLAN IN PRINCIPLE 83

ure It as the embodiment of our civilization
and we know that the stability of our social
life depends upon the majority of our young
people getting at least the elements of that
culture. The Dalton Plan points a way to
make the process natural and spontaneous
rather than forced and arbitrary. It evokes
in the child a spirit of self-reliance and ini-
tiative and so starts his character building at
once. Here is life experience for the little
fellow. He studies on his own responsibility
in the company of his fellows, all pursuing the
.same adventure. He forms the same kind of
relationships in his school life that he will
afterwards get in his business or professional
life. He is learning by trying. He is not
struggling under constant direction and re-
straint. He is part of the real life of the
world, sharing its problems, realizing the
emptiness of idleness, and enjoying the re-
wards of industry. There is nothing false
or artificial in these relationships. But, most
important of all, the Dalton Plan starts him
out on this basis full ten or fifteen years ahead
of the boy or girl who is now going through
the treadmill of our day schools.

CHAPTER III

THE PIAST iisr PRACTICE

I COME now to a consideration of the Dalton
Laboratory Plan in its practical application to the
problem of education. Perhaps in order to clear
the ground it is well to begin by indicating what
it is not.

The Dalton Laboratory Plan is not a system or
a method, which through ages of use has petrified
into a monotonous and uniform .shape, to be
branded on to succeeding generations of pupils
v as sheep are branded on going into a fold. It
is not a curriculum, which, all too often, is simply
the machine by means of which the brand is
stamped upon the individuals caught in the
meshes of the system. Practically speaking, it is
a scheme of educational reorganization which
reconciles the twin activities of teaching and learn-
ing. When intelligently applied it creates condi-
tions which enable the teacher to teach and the
learner to learn.

In order to apply the scheme it is not necessary
or even desirable to abolish classes or forms as
units of organization in the school, nor the curri-
culum as such* The Dalton Laboratory Plan pre-
34

THE PLAN IN PRACTICE 35

serves botx Each pupil is classified as a memTber
of a form, a;pd for each form a maximum and a
minimum curriculum is drawn up. But at its
inception, it lays tlie whole work proposition be-
fore the pupils in the shape of a contract job. The
curriculum is divided up into jobs and the pupil
accepts the work assigned for his class as a con-
tract. Though dispensed with above middle school,
the younger children may sign a definite contract
which is returned to each individual as soon as
his job is completed,

"I ? pupil of standard form, contract

to do the assignment.

Date and signature ."

As every month of the year has its own as-
signed work, a contract- job for any one form com-
prises a whole month's work. For convenience
we arrange the different parts of the curriculum
tinder the heading of major and minor subjects;

MAJOR SUBJECTS. MIKOR SUBJECTS.

Mathematics Music

History Art

Science Handiwork

English Domestic Science

Geography Manual Training 1
Foreign Languages, etc* Gymnastics, etc*

The first category of subjects is not more im-
portant than the other, but they are classified as
"major" because they are used as the basis of

36 THE DALTON PLAN

promotion in most schools, and college entrance
examinations thus necessitate that ;nore time
should be given to them. The value rf the minor
subjects lies in their expansive influence upon the
student. The .study of them creates a response
to beauty and also an increased power of expres-
sion. But if in the lower school, which includes
children ranging from eight to twelve years, for-
eign languages are not required as a basis for
promotion, they should be classified as minor sub-
jects for lower-school pupils.

For the purpose of simplifying the initial appli-
cation of the Dalton Laboratory Plan, I recom-
mend that it should be applied firstly to major sub-
jects alone. As the new scheme becomes familiar
it can gradually be extended to the minor subjects.
Take, for example, a school wherein the major sub-
jects for Form II are Mathematics, Science, His-
tory, Geography, English, and French. The first
contract-job for a pupil belonging to that form
would be a block of the year's curriculum compris-
ing a month's work in each of these major sub-
jects. In the United States we reckon a school
month as twenty days. The contract would there-
fore cover the ground divided as below :

TWENTY DAYS

FOBM II CONTEACT JOB

1 month 1 month 1 month 1 month 1 month 1 month

of of of of of of

3French English Science Mathematics Geography History

THE PLAN IN PRACTICE 37

This diagram represents a required standard
of work for the performance of which each pupil
in Form II would contract. Though the standard
is the .same, the pupils are not. As their mental
legs must be of different lengths, their rate of
speed in study must vary also. Some may not
even need the twenty days for their contracted
work; others may not be able to get it done in that
time. It is of the essence of the Dalton Labora-
tory Plan that pupils should progress each
at his own rate, for only ,so can the work be assimi-
lated thoroughly. Thus each pupil must be al-
lowed to organize his method of working as he
thinks best. Unfortunately at the outset we can-
not assume that these pupils know how to work,
though as the new plan is put into operation they
will gradually learn to organize both their time
and work to better and better advantage. But
efficiency means speed, and speed will only be at-
tained when good habits of work are established.
It takes time to counteract the habit of dependence
bred in the pupil by constantly telling him what to
do, when and how to do it. This system made
him a servant, occasionally an efficient servant,
but always dependent on orders. And though the
reorganization of school machinery is quickly
effected the response of the pupil to the changed
conditions is not always as rapid. It is the busi-
ness of the teacher to see that the adjustment pro-
ceeds, however, slowly. The process can be helped
by making the divided curriculum clear ? and by

38 THE DALTON PLAN

seeing that the pupil grasps the whole scope and
nature of the work he contracts to accomplish.
Unless he understands what is required of him
his organization of Ms time will be defective,

By giving his task in the form of a contract for
whose execution he feels himself responsible, we
give the work dignity and him the conscious-
ness of a definite purpose. This feeling is in-
creased if we make him aware of our confidence
in his desire and in his power to execute it. A
pupil must not, however, be permitted to continue
the study of any major subject beyond the limits
of the month's assignment unless he has completed
his contract in every subject. He must not be al-
lowed to work up to a higher standard than his
form average in one or two subjects and fall below
it in the rest of them. This would merely give
him an opportunity of evading progress in those
studies in which he is weak and lose to Mm the
value of correlated and vitalized subjects. Uni-
formity of standard insures that he will so or-
ganize his time that most of it will be devoted to
overcome his individual weaknesses and difficul-
ties. The plan teaches him to budget Ms time so
that it is sufficient to his needs and to have him go
slowly and thoroughly. In this way he will be
swell prepared for each succeeding step. His sub-
ject diet will be well balanced and his culture will
be well rounded.

The amount of any monthly assignment is a
part and a very vital part of the teacher's prob-

THE PLANT IN PRACTICE 39

lem. A good curriculum should be so "balanced
and co-related that neither too much nor too little
is included in the contract-job. In the lower school
not more should be required than the pupils can
easily accomplish by a wise division of their time.
That a ten-year-old child should learn all that a
normal child of his age can learn is the ideal to
set before us. A study of child psychology is nec-
essary if we are to reorganize the machinery of
education so that it corresponds to his powers and
satisfies his needs at every age.

Turning from the pupil to the school building,
it is evident that the Dalton Laboratory Plan
exacts the establishment of laboratories, one for
each subject in the curriculum, though with a small
teaching staff two subjects may be studied in a
single laboratory. A specialist in that particular
subject, or subjects, should be in charge of each
laboratory whose relation to the scheme I will
deal with later on. For the moment I want to em-
phasize the point that these laboratories are the
places where the children experiment where they
are free to work on their jobs, not places where
they are experimented upon.

The text-book library of the school must be dis-
tributed among these laboratories according to
subj^t. It is of course essential that the neces-
sary books -should be always accessible to every
student a supply of scientific books in the science
laboratory, history books in the history labora-
tory, and so on. With regard to these books, it

40 THE DALTON PLAN

is well to have a few standard text-books and to
increase as far as possible the number of reference
books. Do not be afraid of including in the school
library books that are designed for adult readers,
the kind of books which, hasre hitherto been found
rather on home, than on school, bookshelves. Re-
member that no book can be too well written to
interest a child. The dry terseness of the ordinary
school manual, devoid of any literary quality, is
responsible for half the distaste of learning so
characteristic of the average school boy or girl.
It is at school that our future men and women
should become acquainted with those literary
treasures which are the common heritage of
humanity. And regarded merely as a mine of in-
formation, nothing could be more valuable in the
development of the pupil's intelligence than the
opportunity thus given him of comparing the dif-
ferent views of different authors on the subject he
is studying.

Among the impediments to true education wliicit
is ruthlessly abolished by the Dalton Laboratory
Plan is the time-table. Even to the teacher the
time-table is a bugbear. How often have I heard
head masters and mistresses complain of the diffi-
culty of dividing time so that no member of the
teaching staff should feel his special subjects
slighted! As a result the time-table is usually
compiled rather in the interest of the instructors
than of the pupils. To the latter the time-table

THE PLAN IN PRACTICE 41

is nothing less than a curse. Its banishment is in
fact the first step towards his liberation.

Let us assume that in a givon school laboratory
time for all classes or forms extends from 9 to
12 o'clock every morning. Under the Dalton Plan
this three-hour period is devoted to the study of:
the major subjects Geography, History, Mathe-
matics, Science, English, and French. Before set-
ting out to organize their time themselves each
pupil consults his teacher, who, under the new
plan, has become a subject specialist, or adviser.
Together they go over the pupil's contract work,
classifying his subjects as strong and weak.
Those subjects which a child loves and enjoys
studying will usually be found among his strong
subjects. The subjects he is weak in are almost
invariably those which he finds difficult to under-
stand and assimilate, chiefly because he has not
hitherto been able to give enough time to them.

For the sake of clarity I will take a concrete
example. Mary Smith is a member of Form II.
When, with the aid of her adviser, she has sorted
out her subjects, we will suppose that they fall
into the two following categories :

WEAK SUBJECTS. STRONG SUBJECTS.

Mathematics English

French History

Geography

Science

42 THE DALTON PLAN

In relation to the three hours 9 laboratory time
at her disposal we may express her individual
needs "by the following equation :

THEEE HOTJBS* LABOEATOBY TIME

Mathematics-4-Freneli = English+Hislory+Gepgrap!hy-(~^^ enc0
(Weak Subjects) (Strong Subjects)

Having accepted her contract-job she must keep
the whole job in mind, and being weak in French
and Mathematics she needs to devote as much time
to them as to her four strong subjects* But if the
time-table were in force, Mary, despite her diffi-
culties, would only be allowed as long for her
Mathematics and French as the other pupils in
Form II, many of whom might be strong in them.
Can a more complete condemnation of the time-
table be found than this simple demonstration of
its working?

Emancipated from its tyranny, Mary's equation
will change as she eliminates antipathy to, or
weakness in, those subjects. But as long as her
problem can be expressed in the terms of the above
equation, she should devote half of her three avail-
able hours every day to Mathematics and French,
and only the remaining half to the other four
subjects. If she is stronger in French than in
Mathematics then the one-and-one-half hours
.should be divided accordingly.

Mary, will, however, be free to choose which
subject she will take up first, and she will go into
the laboratory consecrated to that subject. Hav-
ing chosen it at the moment when her interest in

THE PLAN IN PRACTICE 43

it is keen, she will do better work and do it more
quickly too. Once in the laboratory Mary pro-
ceeds to study as an individual, but if she finds
other members from Form II there she works with
them. This is the rule of the laboratory under
the Dalton Plan. It subdivides and reduces the
large class group and it creates a small group of
pupils doing intensive work, which stimulates dis-
cussion and exercises social influence. The edu-
cative value of such small groups is immense in
giving an atmosphere to the laboratory, in pro-
viding occasions for social adjustment and expe-
rience. It provides invaluable play of mind upon
mind. As Mary has entered that laboratory vol-
untarily, and can leave it for another when she
feels inclined, no problems of discipline arise.
Her mind comes in with her and goes out with her,
disciplined by interest in the subject, harnessed
the whole of it to her job. No time is wasted,
for though the general time-table has gone Mary
has, in consultation with her adviser, made a
time-table for herself. This is very important,
especially in the case of the younger children, in
order to inculcate the value of time. To spend it
in supplying our mental and moral needs is to put
it to the wisest use.

It is also essential to Mary that she .should
realize exactly what progress she is making in the
subject of her choice. For this purpose I invented
the graph device before alluded to. As it merits
a chapter to itself I will only now refer to it cas-

44 THE DALTON PLAN

tially as a part of the laboratory equipment and
procedure. There are three sets of graphs. The
first provides each special teacher and adviser
with the means of following the individual prog-
ress of each pupil, and of comparing it with that of
the other members of the class. It also enables
the pupil himself to compare Ms progress with,
that of his classmates. But Mary has also her own
contract-job graph, on which -she records her daily
progress. The third graph pictures the progress
of the class or form a whole, as well as the
individual progress.

So that the pupil should never lose sight of the
job in its entirety, progress is measured in weeks
of work accomplished. Mary has six major sub-
jects with four weeks of work on each of them.
Her contract thus entails twenty-four weeks of
work. On the weekly graph she is therefore
marked, not in each separate subject, but in the
number of weeks' work done out of the total re-
quired, week by week.

In this manner a pupil advances .steadily, job
by job, through the curriculum of his class. If
in a school year of nine or ten months he only
finishes eight jobs on account of absence or illness,
he begins the ninth job in the following year. The
clever child may, on the contrary, -accomplish in
one year the work mapped out to cover eighteen
months. Often the slow, apparently less intelli-
gent, child gains in rapidity, and in any case he
builds well and soundly at his own natural rate*

CHAPTER IV

ITS APPLICATION A COHCBETE EXAMPLE

THE Dalton Laboratory Plan can be applied to
the reorganization of any school with the excep-
tion of infant or primary schools designed for
children under nine years of age. Above that
limit we classify schools in the United States into
lower, middle, and upper, but as I am writing
mainly for British readers I shall use the terms
" elementary " and ", secondary " in the English
sense when alluding to English schools. In Amer-
ica an elementary school is a lower school, ordi-
narily consisting of fourth to eighth grades in-
clusive, and may be private or public, that is, pay-
ing or free. With us, public schools are invariably
free schools supported out of public funds, not, as
in the case of Eton and Harrow, open only to
pupils whose parents are able to pay for their
tuition.

As a general rale the Dalton Plan is applied
as an efficiency measure for the purpose of accom-
plishing a programme of work already standard-
ized for the different forms or grades. It is
susceptible, however, of a much greater extension
in the direction of our ideal in education, as some

45

46 THE DALTON PLAN

day I hope it will be, by being applied to the or-
ganization of a new venture instead of the re-
organization of an old one. In this case it could be
used for the carrying out of a freer curriculum
composed entirely of projects set by the pupils
themselves, and where the instructors would be
regarded as consultant specialists.

At the moment, however, I shall confine my ob-
servations to its application as an efficiency meas-
ure involving both academic and social re-
organization. In this connection I must again in-
sist upon the necessity of bearing always in mind
that my plan or "way" connotes not only a change
of curriculum or method, but a change in the
whole life and spirit of the school. This sociali-
zation of the school, as I call it, is as vital to, the
success of the experiment as is the liberation o'f
the pupil.

As a concrete illustration of my meaning I will
describe the initiation of the Dalton Laboratory
Plan in a lower school, dealing first with the
academic aspect of the question. In this .school
there were one hundred and fifty children ranging
in age from nine to thirteen. They were classified
in five grades, fourth to eighth inclusive, with
thirty pupils in each grade. This school was a
free public school. Had it been private and pay-
ing the classes would certainly have been smaller.

Those five grades occupied five rooms, each
grade being in charge of a regular form, or grade
teacher. Mathematics, History, Geography,

ITS APPLICATION 47

lish, and Science being considered the major sub-
jects, or ^ tools of knowledge/ 7 were taught in
each grade. They were the standardized funda-
mentals and were, moreover, regarded as the basis
of promotion. French, Music, Art, Gymnastics,
Needlework, and Cooking were considered minor
subjects, but after the adoption of the plan French
became a major subject. Before that time the
major subjects received daily attention in oral
lessons, the minor ones several times a week,
though music was in a way a daily task as the
children usually inaugurated the school hours with
singing. Practically the whole morning was given
up to the first category of subjects, while the
afternoon was reserved for the second. Subse-
quently, music and art were put upon a laboratory
basis, and full-time, instead of twice-weekly,
instructors, were engaged to teach them.

For some time the Dalton Laboratory Plan had
been under discussion when one day the principal
called the five form mistresses to a conference
on the matter. These mistresses were just aver-
age teachers, neither more nor less intelligent than
the majority In their profession. Their observa-
tions disclosed varying degrees of dissatisfaction
with the working of the old system. Several of
them agreed that its demand that each instructor
should be an expert in the teaching of every sub-
ject in the curriculum was inclined to make them
jack-of-all-trades and masters of none. All of
them testified to the constant, and often insuper-

48 THE DALTON PLAN

able, difficulty of arousing the interest of the pu-
pils in their lessons. Much class-time was wasted
in overcoming their disinclination to proceed with
the scheduled business of the day. One teacher
rather pathetically described her efforts to drama-
tize the lesson in the hope of interesting the chil-
dren. After searching the library to get up the
subject she would often spend the night in pre-
paring to present it in a thrilling and exciting
manner. Her subject was history, and she related
how she had once tried to win the attention of
the children with a romantic account of the
French-Indian war. But her only reward for all
this expenditure of energy was an appeal from
one of the children for information regarding the
North Pole and Eskimos, -suggested probably by
the snow that was then falling outside the school
windows !

Similar experiences were detailed by other
teachers. The impossibility of adjusting the char-
acter of the lesson and its length to pupils whose
capacity for absorption varied from child to child,
was also cited as a defect in the .system by all the
teachers in unison. It was usually too short for
the alert pupil to whom the subject was easy, and
who was consequently quick at the up-take. It
was too long for the child whose mind had flown
out of the window after something about which he
was naturally enthusiastic, and far too long for
the slow-minded pupil who needed much explana-
tion -and who grasped ideas .slowly. Even those

ITS APPLICATION 49

among the teachers who considered themselves
good disciplinarians acknowledged that, though
able to control the bodies of their pupils, the soul
almost invariably escaped their authority.

A series of questions put by the principal elicited
the fact that every one of the teachers had a fa-
vourite subject which she would like to teach all
the time, while several added that the effort to
impart knowledge on a variety of subjects was
totally disproportionate to the result achieved with
their pupils. It is not surprising that under these
circumstances all fivei mistresses received with
relief and joy the announcement that the old un-
satisfactory system was to be abandoned. They
were then told that the school was to be reorgan-
ized on the Dalton Laboratory Plan, under which
each instructor would be able to devote all her
energy to teaching her best subject and only that.
Every one of the old grade rooms was henceforth
to be converted into a laboratory where pupils
belonging to all grades would come to study that
one particular subject with the help of the teacher
who adopted it.

The next step was the rearrangement of school
equipment preliminary to the initiation of the
new plan. All the geographical apparatus books,
maps, and globes were concentrated in one room,
the surplus above what would in future be
required demonstrating the superiority of the
Dalton Plan from the point of view of economy.
The same transportation was effected of all the

50 THE DALTON PLAN

tools pertaining to the study of the other subjects,
and lastly the library was distributed among the
laboratories upon the same principle. Already it
was evident that the vitalizing process had begun.
A new spirit seemed to prevail among the teachers
which made them friends on a new plane instead
of rivals. Each realized she would have, in future,
,a definite and sympathetic domain in which her in-
terests would not clash with those of any of her
colleagues. Of course there were some misgiv-
ings; some half -expressed fears of failure when
the great innovation should be put to the acid test
of practice. What would happen, some of them
wondered, if certain pupils known for their in-
genuity in bringing the most promising schemes
of teachers to naught should set out to wreck the
new experiment? But to all these doubts and an-
ticipations of evil the principal opposed her cheer-
ful optimism. She had faith in the miracle and
declared it. Once in operation the resistance of
the children would, she was convinced, fade like
frost in June. "Change the conditions/' she re-
peated, "and you change the pressure. Change
the pressure and you will change the product "
The fact that in this school the decision to adopt
the Dalton Laboratory Plan was taken at the end
of the term made the necessary time available to
prepare both materially and psychologically*
When the old classroom desks were re-grouped in
the laboratories they were placed front to front,
five together, to make tables for the use of the

ITS APPLICATION 51

separate grade groups. In order to facilitate
adjustment to the new organization these latter
were numbered 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 to indicate the different
grade groups that were to use them. Coloured
cards corresponding to the numbers were chosen to
designate the different grades, and also the indi-
vidual graphs for the checking of progress. In
the hall one hundred and fifty lockers were erected
and numbered to serve as a receptacle where each
pupil could keep the miscellaneous articles which
formerly accumulated in the classroom desk.
Finally, the art mistress provided each of her col-
leagues with a sign card that was fixed to the door
of each laboratory to indicate the subject. Just
outside a notice board was placed to carry grade
assignments; inside there was a similar board
destined for laboratory graphs. The conversion
of a store-room into a staff-room which till then,
had been entirely lacking "with its own notice
board completed the transformation scene.

The following simple diagram will show what
the transformation from one teacher with many
subjects to one teacher with one subject meant to
the staff.

Mim A: 4th Grade Math, 5 Gr. Math. 6 Gr. Math 7 Gr Math. 8 Gr Math.

Misa B: " T3n*. " Bng " Bng " Eng. " Eng,

MXBS C: " Hist, " Hist " Hist. " Hist, " Hist.

Mian I>: '* Geog. " Geog " Geog " Geog. " Geog.

MIBS E; " Swono " SOL " Son '* Soi " SoL

"With regard to the important question of as-
signment the average capacity of each grade was
carefully considered in order to determine the

52 THE DALTON PLAN

amount of work which ought to be required from
the pupils of each of the five grades during a
school month of twenty days. This investigation
revealed the enormous amount of work which had
been set, and made the teachers realize how * ' over-
padded' ? the assignments were. A process of cut-
ting down was then resorted to. Departmental
cuts were effected between departments by agree-
ment, by crediting the pupils with a certain scale
of work already fulfilled. Academic cuts reduced
the amount of subject matter. When completed,
these assignments were attached to coloured cards
corresponding to the grade colours and hung on
the notice boards outside the laboratories. Outside
the history laboratory all the history assignments
for the five grades were hung, and so on. On the
notice boards inside the laboratories correspond-
ingly coloured laboratory graphs were fixed for
recording individual progress.

A detailed exposition of the Dalton Laboratory
Plan was given to each teacher for study during
the holidays. "When the pupils assembled at the
beginning of the next term the principal gave them,
a simple explanation of the changes that had been
made in the organization of their work, and
showed them how the contract cards and graphs
were to be used. They were told that the time-
tables and the class-bell had been abolished ; that
henceforward they were free to enter any labora-
tory quietly without asking permission, and to
work there on any subject as long as they desired.

ITS APPLICATION 53

The three hours, from 9 to 12, would now be con-
sidered as their own time for the use of which
they were individually responsible. It was to be
budgeted according to the difficulties each subject
presented to each pupil. It was explained that
they would be checked academically according to
their progress towards fulfillment of the con-
tracted job, and socially according to the way in
which they "shouldered the job." At 12 o'clock
the fourth grade were told to report to Miss A
in the mathematic laboratory. She would then
and thereafter once each week, give them an oral
lesson in mathematics. Similarly, the fifth grade
was to report to Miss B ; the sixth to Miss C ; the
seventh to Miss D ; and the eighth to Miss E. This
first assignment to oral lessons began for each
grade with the subject specialist who acted also as
the advisor for a particular grade or class. The
social and ethical aspects of the Dalton Labora-
tory Plan were not alluded to on that occasion.
This side of the new method was first discussed
with the parents and .subsequently with the pupils
themselves.

Although somewhat confused about it all, the
interest of the children in the new scheme was
immediately evident. In order to help its ini-
tiation on that very first morning the principal
assigned groups to the various laboratories. As
there were thirty pupils in each grade, she as-
signed .six pupils from each grade, making thirty
in all, to each of the .subject laboratories for

54 THE DALTON PLAN

further Instruction In the scheme from the mis-
tress who was awaiting their arrival.

On account of what happened in Miss D's lab-
oratory may be taken as typical of the events of
the morning in all the other laboratories. Each
group was isolated together round the cluster of
desks which had been set apart for each grade. The
grade assignments from the outside notice boards
were distributed among the groups, one pupil in
each reading it quietly to the rest, while Miss D
went from one to another offering suggestions and
giving assistance. Notebooks were then distri-
buted to each pupil, one for each subject, which
were either to be left in the laboratory or kept
in the locker. After the entire .assignment had
been read copies of it were distributed for the
general use of each group with instructions to
leave them in a portfolio upon the grade-tables
or desks. The time had now come when they were
told to start work and to communicate either with
a member of their group or with their teacher in
case they desired help. "Without communication
intimate discussion and play of mind upon mind
would have been impossible. The laboratory
would have become a mere study hall, not an inter-
acting stimulating society. When any pupil had
finished any portion of the first week's assignment
he was told that he might leave that laboratory
and go Into any other he preferred after recording
on his own and on the grade-graph the amount of
work done.

ITS APPLICATION 55

Within twenty minutes the pupils had grasped
the outline of the organization and had settled
down to study. As each became absorbed in the
.subject the room grew almost silent, or as Miss D
afterwards expressed it, "one felt an atmosphere
growing there of real, contented work." At in-
tervals during the morning one pupil after another
finished a piece of work and was asked by Miss D
where he would then like to go. This question was
only necessary that first morning in order to en-
sure that the pupil had really decided what subject
he would take up next, and also to give him ballast
and encouragement. If wavering, he was asked
to remain until he could come to a real decision.
As pupils came into the laboratory from others,
Miss D greeted thorn as one would greet a guest,
for it is essential to remove any feeling of re-
straint or embarrassment. Fortunately, the old
nagging and driving on one hand and sullen re-
isistance on the other had already vanished.

At 12 o'clock each grade reported, as arranged,
to its assigned laboratory, where the mistress gave
them an oral lesson lasting 45 minutes on some one
subject, and handed them the weekly schedule of
these lessons in which a different subject was to
be treated each day. These lessons were now
called " conferences" because the entire class, who
had been working in separate laboratories, indi-
vidually or in small voluntary groups, now met
to confer over the problems of their assignment.
At these conferences they compared progress,

56 THE DALTON PLAN

brought up and discussed their special difficulties,
and helped to solve the difficulties of their fellow
pupils. The greatest keenness was shown at these
conferences; the discussions were genuine and
really helpful to all concerned. Each conference
was social because the school itself had been social-
ized by the plan.

The Subject Supervisors who paid weekly visits
to the -school showed an intense interest in the
working of the new plan. It made it possible for
a supervisor visiting the school at any time during
the morning to see in her -subject laboratory the
study in full swing. By examining the assign-
ments she could easily check subject content. In-
stead of spending much of her time in advising
teachers how to discipline and control their
classes, the Dalton Plan enabled her to discuss and
correlate the work in company with other su-
pervisors and the teachers* At the same time a
-single librarian could spend a few days each
month in a single school and go from laboratory
to laboratory to arrange for the care and the
exchange of books.

Subsequent mornings, weeks, and months only
served to confirm the success of the first trial of
the new organization. And gradually under its in-
fluence learning did indeed become as much a
pleasure as play.

CHAPTER V

ASSIGHMEKXS HOW TO MAKE THEM

IT is not too much to say that the Dalton Labora-
tory Plan hinges upon the assignment ; for on the
degree of skill and understanding with which it is
compiled, the successful application of the new
plan will largely depend. Its importance will Tbe
appreciated when we remember that the pupil can
only reach a complete survey of the work expected
of him through the medium of each separate as-
sigment. Collectively considered, they represent
an outline of the contract-job in all its parts.

Though the adjustment of the work to be done
to the capacity of the pupils has always consti-
tuted the chief problem of a teacher, sufficient
attention has not hitherto been devoted to it from
the point of view of the individual pupiL All too
frequently the preparation set has merely re-
quired the .study of a certain number of pages
in a text-book or manual, and often this require-
ment has been hurled at the pupil at the end of
a class period after Ms attention has already
been claimed from another class by the pre-dis-
missal gong, Under these circumstances it is no
wonder that the child fails to grasp the exact

57

58 THE DALTON PLAN

meaning of the hastily fixed assignment, and even
its relation to the subject in hand.

The first condition of a good assignment is that
it shall be invariably written, not oral, clearly ex-
pressed, and designed to show the pupil what it
is leading up to. In drawing it tip the teacher
must get rid of the idea that she is preparing a
plan for herself. What is needed is a plan to
be used by the pupils as a guide in their attack
upon the parts of their contract-job. A good as-
signment represents a block of the whole job com-
piled from the standpoint of the pupil himself.

Few children at any age know instinctively how
to work. As the object of the Dalton Plan is pri-
marily to teach them this, the instructor should
be careful at the outset not to demand too much.
Versatility, resourcefulness, and general efficiency
will be better developed if the whole contract is
proportionate to the mental power of the average
child. On no account should it .surpass his ca-
pacity to grasp it as a whole. He must be able to
take it in before he can measure his time wisely
and set himself to its consistent accomplishment.
Only the job which he feels to be within his reach
will stimulate the growth of his interest, and ulti-
mately of his creative powers.

In cases where experience has revealed a
marked disparity of intelligence between the
pupils of the same age and form, it is sometimes
well to modify the assignment in order to bring
it within the reach of, say, three different cate-

ASSIGNMENTS HOW TO MAKE THEM 59

gories. The minimum assignment will merely re-
quire the essentials for a form foundation, and its
execution should not put too great a strain upon
the least gifted pupils in the class. The medium
assignment would be given to the next group of
moderately intelligent children, while the maxi-
mum assignment would be reserved for the star
pupils. As any individual gained ground or de-
veloped intellectually, which is a common phe-
nomenon after the Dalton Plan has been in opera-
tion for some time, he could be moved from the
minimum to the maximum group. But it should
never be forgotten that uniformity is not at all
synonymous with progress.

At the start one month's contract will give the
student a sufficient perspective, and even this
should be divided up into weekly allotments, so
that the pupil should be able to mark his own prog-
ress, step by step, as he goes on. In so doing he
will gain the satisfaction of so much accomplished
with encouragement to fresh efforts. But to this
end an assignment must be compiled like a sylla-
bus, indicating not only the ground to be covered,
but containing helpful .suggestions and lists of
definite questions to be answered.

These helpful suggestions, or, as I prefer to
call them, "interest pockets/' should be a vital
feature of the assignment. Here the teacher's
knowledge of the psychology of each pupil comes
into play. She must, in framing her assignment,
take into consideration the special needs and

60 THE DALTON PLAN

tastes of every child in lier class* Tins is neces-
isary in order to create "interest pockets." In-
stead of wording the assignments peremptorily
as, for example, "readisuch and such a reference,"
the pupil's interest will be aroused if it is
worded "you will find such and such references
helpful" Such phrasing catches the child's at-
tention and thus these "interest pockets" give
life to the assignment. The assignments must not
tell too much but should stimulate research.

So constructed an assignment can almost be
made to .serve as an assistant teacher. It is well
to indicate points where consultations with the
instructor is advisable, as, for instance, to a
mathematic assignment the words "After you
have finished the required problems come to me
and I will explain the next rule before you go on"
might be added. A pupil will appreciate any .sug-
gestion designed to facilitate his progress. "We
must not do the work for him, but it is necessary
to provide inspiration for his efforts and occa-
sional help over a difficult bit of the road* The
ideal to be attained is to make him feel the interest
taken by the teacher in his progress without ren-
dering him dependent upon her. The introduction
of such "interest pockets ?? into assignments will
go a long ways towards the achievement of this
relationship.

But this relationship between teacher and pupil
should not be limited to one class or grade. It
is just as necessary that sympathy and interaction

ASSIGNMENTS HOW TO MAKE THEM 61

,should exist between tlie teachers as between the
pnpils in the school. Without it that inter-relation
of subjects in the making up of the assignment
cannot be achieved. In all schools a tendency ex-
ists on the part of each teacher to think his spe-
cial subject of iSupreme importance in the curric-
ulum. In her desire to do justice to it she is apt
to encroach upon the time which ought to be de-
voted to other subjects. A satisfactory adjust-
ment of all subjects in an assignment can only be
made if all the teachers are ready to pool their
collective knowledge of the psychology of the
pupil, and their collective observation of the in-
terests and capacity of each child. For this pur-
pose the proposed assignments should be posted
up for the benefit and discussion of the staff at
least one week before they are exhibited on the
notice boards to the pupils. In this way the
teachers will be able to collaborate intelligently in
adjusting and cutting down the amount of work set
in each subject. Assignments thus become a prob-
lem to be shared and solved by the entire ,staff to-
gether.

For the welfare of the school as a whole it is es-
sential that the complete scheme of work should
be regarded as a synthesis. An examination of the
assignment content will reveal how the work in
each subject should be correlated. If, for ex-
ample, a particularly interesting theme is assigned
as a problem in science or in history, the English
teacher should find in it good material for an es~

62 THE DALTON PLAN

say, a debate, or for an oral conference. It is
the province of the principal to emphasize that the
importance given to the special subjects of each
teacher in the assignment will depend upon a new
presentation of that subject to the other instruc-
tors and upon the degree in which she secures
their co-operation in its development.

This side of the assignment question is so vital
that I will elaborate it by a concrete illustration.
Take, for instance, the .subject of art* The art
department belongs to the whole school, not only
to the art teacher, who simply assumes that re-
sponsibility for the whole .staff. If art is merely
work done in the >studio, to be seen at the time
of the annual exhibition, it is a dead thing. It
can only be made a living influence if it permeates
and serves every department. In order to do this
the art teacher must secure the interest of her
colleagues as well as of her pupils in the subject.
To appeal to the latter to devote a large propor-
tion of their time to any special subject on the
grounds of its superior value is merely a waste
of time. Better results will be attained if each
instructor realizes that she must fit the subject
into the general scheme, making it serve the needs
of the whole, and getting her fellow teachers to
ally their subjects with hers. Nor must it be for-
gotten that it is the teachers, not the pupils, who
are responsible for changes made in the curricu-
lum, and for the correlation of subjects in their
assignments. The change in, the attitude and ap~

ASSIGNMENTS HOW TO MAKE THEM 63

preciation of the pupils is the measure of their
success.

The manner in which we have tackled the ques-
tion in the Children's University School is worth
quoting in this connection. There the geography
teacher requires as a geography problem -special
notebooks which are made in the art laboratory.
Note books are not the ultimate end of art, but the
artistic note book is a means which elicits the ap-
preciation of the geography teachers and extends
the province of art* Supposing that the director
of this department is working on an item of
household decoration, she sends her pupils to the
handwork room to do the necessary manual part
of the job. When completed this manual work is
brought back to the studio. The influence of such
collaboration is valuable in unifying the aims of
all the departments involved. But such correla-
tion is only possible after an understanding has
been reached between the heads of all depart-
ments. When the art instructor knows what work
is assigned in geography and in other subjects,
she can assign her problems in the art of the same
period. She may begin through the medium of a
notebook, but by making it beautiful the period
becomes illuminated in the minds of the children,
and so art gradually takes its place as a factor
in their lives. Again, if the planetary system is
under discussion in geography, the mathematics
teacher can use it to illuminate problems in mathe-
matics and algebra, while the art instructor calls

64: THE DALTON PLAN

attention to the beautiful celestial maps to be seen
in the museums of the city. In principle there is
beauty in every utilitarian thing. At the Chil-
dren's University School the art and the music
teachers have made their subjects so serve the
needs of the others that art and music have pene-
trated as a living force into every laboratory.
Consequently, art and music are recognized as
equal in importance to every other subject studied,
and an equal proportion of time is given to them.
We have found that beauty vitalizes every study
into which it is imported.

Each class or form adviser should, therefore,
be furnished with copies of all the subject assign-
ments used by her form, so that she may envisage
the whole work concretely in advising each pupil
on the best method of attacking his own allotment.
With regard to those allotments it may not be
found necessary in the case of older students, in
university or in the last two years of a .secondary
school, to subdivide the monthly into weekly as-
signments. I suggest, however, that at the ini-
tiation of the Dalton Laboratory Plan it is advis-
able to give all pupils, regardless of age, the assist-
ance of weekly divisions of work. Pupils who are
accustomed to have all their work presented to
them in the form of pre-digested oral lessons will
find it very difficult at first to think in terms of the
whole contract- job. The established habit of
studying from day to day, living intellectually
from hand to mouth cannot easily be discarded.

ASSIGNMENTS HOW TO MAKE THEM 65

To concentrate instead on tlie organization of
their work and the planning of their time demands
an effort and perseverance in the effort. They
will gradually learn to say themselves: " Where
am I weak, and what must I do to perfect myself
in this or that subject?" instead of "How mnch
of this task must I do in order to escape reproof? ? '
The change implies an entire change of attitude
towards the work, and often towards the teacher.
Pupils whose object is to do as little work as pos-
sible are extraordinarily quick in diagnosing the
psychology of the different teachers. They know
instinctively exactly what each teacher will exact
and which are more easily satisfied. But thinking
of the work in terms of Miss A or Miss B is, of
course, fatal to the progress of the pupil in any
direction. Morally speaking, it constitutes a
grave danger, for it tempts the conscientious
teacher to drive the pupil, and the more she sets
herself to feed him with knowledge the less will
he be inclined to assimilate it through his own
effort. The more she teaches the less, in fact, will
he learn.

In composing assignments, different subjects
should of course be differently treated. Certain
points should, however, always be emphasized ir-
respective of subject. If we want the pupil to dig
and mine for himself we must give him the neces-
sary tools for the operation. Teachers must guard
against organizing their part of the ten or less
different assignments in ten different ways, for

66 THE DALTON PLAN

the pupil cannot "be expected to envisage Ms job as
a whole unless all the parts are so correlated that
it appears to him as really one problem. Lack of
collaboration between the ten different teachers
in the production of a consistent assignment
scheme will be as deleterious to the child's mind
and energy as if ten contractors were to work
on a building without regard for the architect's
design. Design is as essential to the construction
of an assignment as it is to the construction of a
house.

The following outline, which suggests types of
things that ought to be included in an assignment,
may prove useful, either in the case of monthly
assignments with weekly subdivisions for young
children, or without weekly subdivisions when the
pupils are older and more advanced.

SUBJECT
'(Q-BADE OB FORM) (No. OF COKTKACT ASSIGNMENT)

Points to 6 e Jcept in mmd
Preface to the Month's work.

1st Week

1. Topic

2. Problems

3. Written Work

4. Memory Work

5. Conferences or Oral Lessons

6. References

ASSIGNMENTS HOW TO MAKE THEM 67

7. Equivalents (in days of work)

8. Bulletin Study

9. Departmental Cuts.

For the second, third, and fourth weeks some or
all of these points may be included. In any case
all should be kept in mind, for each subdivision
must be a definite unit in itself as "well as a part
of the whole month's assignment. A settled pro-
cedure with, as far as possible, uniformity of head-
ings, etc., is desirable. The number of the con-
tract assignments is, or course, determined by the
number of months in the school year ; for example :

FOEM SUBJECT CONTBACT ASSIGNMENT

II Geography 3

These points will bear some elaboration for the
benefit of inexperienced teachers.

Preface. This should be a simple statement con-
sisting of a few sentences designed to intro-
duce the assignment of work. Above all, the
preface should be an " interest pocket. "

Topic. By this term I mean phases or aspects of
a general subject. Supposing the subject to
be geography, the topic might be " China,''
" Petroleum, " or "The Peace Conference."
To young children a topic should always be
given. It will furnish a central idea to be
developed.

68 THE DALTON PLAN

Problems. This word includes a variety of things.
We can set problems in the form of maps to
be drawn; measurements to be approximated;
routes to be traced; or pictures to be studied
when a definite object is to be accomplished or
a particular reaction is to be stimulated.
Problems may also include examples or
theorems to be worked out; translations;
transpositions or themes in music ; a stencilled
design or a block-print in art ; experiments in
.science ; or a set drill when given to fix a point
or to illustrate a rule.

Written Work. Under this heading all the written
work required should be listed with dates
when it is to be handed in. This applies to
work written either in notebooks or otherwise.

Memory Work. This heading covers poetry to be
learnt by heart; rules or tables; verbs or
songs ; theorems, treaties, preambles, etc.

Conferences. Here the date on which particular
subjects are to be discussed at the oral lesson
.should be indicated so that the pupils may
prepare for such discussions on their own
responsibility and have their exhibits, etc.,
ready,

References, Tinder this heading the names and,
if the assignment is long, the pages of all ref-
erence books or magazine articles should be

ASSIGNMENTSHOW TO MAKE THEM 69

given with directions .showing where such
books are to be found

Equivalents, Here it is essential to show a pnpil
how to record his progress on his own con-
tract graph, for it is a picture of his accom-
plishment and a compass which enables him
to discover and .satisfy his needs. His graph
should be taken from laboratory to laboratory
and to all class conferences. It is his ticket of
admission and should be accurately marked,
daily as he goes on. It is the psychological
picture of his job. Except on rare occasions
he does not do all the month's or even all the
week's work at a -sitting* Thus, if in any one
week's assignment grammar, translation, and
oral work are required, ,say, in a foreign lan-
guage, a time equivalent should be stated.
Grammar, for instance, might count as two
days* or units of work, translation as two
days' work, and oral reading as one day's
work. In a monthly assignment, when the
subject is English, his review of the book in
question might count as reading, one week's
work, and the written part as three weeks'
work.

Bulletin Study. This point should be marked
whenever the laboratory bulletin board dis-
plays maps or pictures which are to be studied
in connection with a special phase of any sub-

70 THE DALTON PLAN

ject, or when pupils are expected to add to the
collection displayed.

Departmental Cuts. As I have already dealt with
this matter it suffices to repeat here that work
requirements are departmentally cut when,
credit is given for work done in any subject
as if it were done in another correlated sub-
ject. If, for instance, a paper in science is
written in sufficiently good English to be
accepted as work done in English composition,
the amount of the contract-job is department-
ally cut down in proportion. Whenever work
is credited it should always be stated as such
in the assignment.

The headings of Problems, "Written Work, and
Memory Work represent points which are very
closely related. The problem may sometimes
actually be memory work, while at other times the
memory work may be supplementary to the real
problem. In English a written book review may
be the problem set, whereas in science the problem
set may be an experiment of which the written
description is supplementary. If the written work
is required, not as a problem but to record a
problem, this should be stated under the heading
of "Written Work. 3 '

But the^ain andjnost important point to keep
iiimTnd In composing^!! assignment is that it must
clearly demonstrate to the pupil what his job
really is. He must be told distinctly what is ex-

ASSIGNMENTS HOW TO MAKE THEM 71

pected of Mm, and the difficulties he is likely to
meet in the execution of it must be indicated. I
hope the training schools of the future may pre-
pare expert specialists to whom all this will be
plain. To .succeed in producing really valuable
instructors for our schools, consideration must be
given to the cultural background and the cultural
needs of the teachers. Sufficient training in psy-
chology to enable teachers to understand the
child's nature, its mental processes and their de-
velopment, should also be a vital part of their
equipment. In the case of specialists, facilities
for intensive training covering the entire field in
one subject must also be provided.

To the teacher who appreciates the character
and the needs of girls and boys, and who makes of
the human material in her charge her primary
study, the reorganization of school life on the Dai-
ton Laboratory Plan will present no difficulty.
Nor if she knows her subject thoroughly will she
be inclined to limit it to purely local aspects. In
the United States to-day history is taught far too
generally from the mere national point of view.
Frequently pupils are given an unconscious im-
pression that "the world began " in the American
year 1776! This may be considered patriotic by
isome, but the narrowing influence of such teaching
upon the pupil is evident. Only by learning his-
tory as world history, and all subjects on the basis
of the universe, can the child grow into a complete
man or woman as well as a good citizen.

CHAPTEE VI

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS

OH the principle that example is better than pre-
cept I am devoting this chapter to a collection of
sample assignments. In order to illustrate the
application of the points to be kept in mind in
their composition I begin by quoting two examples
of one Science Assignment for eighth grade pupte.,
^Che first is, I consider, inadequate because it rails
to give sufficient detail or direction to the child in
the execution of his job. In the second example
itfryon will see this fault is corrected. Its preface
contains the necessary * 'interest pocket, " the true
equivalents are clearly stated 5 the whole is calcu-
lated so as to provide a perspective of the entire
contract and to stimulate interaction and discus-
tsion among the voluntary class-groups in the
laboratory.

I may call attention here to the fact that assign-
ments are not split up into definite daily require-
ments. To do so would rob the pupil of interest
and of the necessary freedom in organizing Ms
time according to the needs of Ms work

72

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 73

ASSIGNMENT A

(Inadequate Version)
Grade VIII SCIENCE 5th Contract Assignment

1st Week
MOTION AOT> FOKCE.

First, I want you to learn Sir Isaac Newton's
Three Laws of Motion. These you will find in
Section I, Chapter III, in Biggins. Study this sec-
tion very carefully, do the experiment on page 47,
find out all you can about Sir Isaac Newton in an
encyclopedia, and then write the answers to the
questions on page 49 in your notebooks. (Three
days' work.)

In continuing your work you will find out some
of the effects of Newton's Laws. Bead what is
said about this in Higgins, pp. 50-54, as far as
paragraph 64. There are six experiments to be
done, and be sure that you know what is meant by
inertia, momentum, centre of gravity, base and
equilibrium, ( Two days ' work. )

2nd Week

This week we shall continue to study the effects
of Newton's Laws. Study Higgins, pp. 54-60.
There are ,seven experiments to do, and I want
you to write the results of these in your notebooks.
(Two days' work.)

Write the answers to the questions on pp. 59-60.
(Two days' work.)

74 THE DALTON PLAN

WOBK AND MACHINES.

Study very carefully pp. 60-66 in Higgins*
(One day's work.)

3rd Week
WOBK AND MACHINES (continued).

Turn to p. 173 in Caldwell and Eikenberry and
think over the answers to the questions, and then
come and discuss them with me. (Onel day's
work) I

On p. 176 in 0. and E. there are six illustrations
showing different types of levers. Write in your
notebook which class of levers each one of these
articles illustrates. (One day's work)

In Cummings, Nature Study^ on 11. 231-232-233
there are some experiments with pulleys that I
want you to do. All the questions are to be writ-
ten in your notebook. (Experiments equal one
day's work and the questions count as two days'
work.)

4th Week

WOBK AND MACHINES (continued).

With a .series of four pulleys I want you to
arrange the most efficient combination you can for
raising a heavy weight. (One day's work.)

Bead Chapter XV in 0. and E. (Two days 1
work.)

Answer the questions of p. 66 in Higgins (to be
written: one day's work).

With the meccano set construct a model of a
machine such as a Travelling Jib Crane 24, p. 10
in Manual of Instructions.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 75

ASSIGNMENT A

(Amended Version)
Grade VIII SCIENCE Sth Contract Assignment

1st Week

MOTION AHD FOBCE.

1. Will an automobile start without an explo-
sion of the gasoline! What makes a screw go into
wood? Why do we oil our bicycles? Why do we
use pulleys? Have you never wondered about
these things? Daily we notice things that happen
all about us, but seldom do we ,stop to consider
how they happen !

This month we are going to learn something
about these common everyday happenings which
are explained by certain fundamental laws in
physics. We are going to consider some of the
common types of machines and discover how they
are able to accomplish the work that they do. In
order to have a good understanding of machines
it is important that we know something about
motion and force. Therefore, in starting our work
for the month we shall consider motion and force
first.

THESE LAWS OF MOTION AHD THEIB
EFFECTS.

You will find it helpful to learn these three laws
first and then proceed with the following experi-
ments. (See reference No* 1.)

76 THE DALTON PLAN

EXBEBIMENT 1. A CHANGE OF MOTION FOLLOWS THE
DIRECTION O3? THE POBOE WHICH CAUSES IT, AND
IS PBOPOBTIONAL TO THE AMOUNT OF FOBCE USED
AND THE TIME DUBING WHICH IT ACTS.

Directions. Suspend a small ball on a long
string. Snap it at the same instant with one
finger of each hand in directions that are at
right angles to each other. Observe the direction
in which the ball moves.

Before undertaking the following experiments
which have to do with the effects of Newton's
Laws it is necessary to have some understanding
of these effects. (See reference 2, and then verify
your reading with the following experiments.)

EXPEBIMENT 2. INEBTIA.

Directions. Balance a visiting card on the end
of your finger and place a coin upon it directly
above the finger tip. With the other hand sud-
denly snap the card away edgewise. Why doesn't
the coin move off with the card?

EXKBBIMENT 3. MOMENTUM.

Directions. Using the -same ball, roll it twice
over the same surface, once slowly and once with
speed. Note the distance that it travels.

Now take two balls, one much heavier than the
other, roll them over the surface, starting them
at the same speed. Note the distances travelled.

EXPEBIMENT 4. CENTBE OF GBAVITY.

Directions. Try to balance a ruler on your
finger. Where is the centre of mass of the ruler f

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 77

Compare the quantity of matter on both sides of
this point. How do you think the action of gravity
upon one side of this spot compares with that upon
the other? Where is the centre of gravity of the
ruler? Now hang unequal weights on the ruler
and find the centre of gravity of the whole*

Find the centre of gravity on your ruler by
balancing and mark the point. Now place the
ruler on a table, push it over the edge little by
little, and note the position of its centre of gravity
just before it falls,

WBITTEN WOKK
Questions. (See references 1 and 2.)

1. State Newton's three laws of motion. Tell
all that you know about Newton. (See refer-
ence 3.)

2. Give any examples of bodies that seem to
set themselves in motion, and tell what outside
force moves them. Why do we not find on earth
any examples of constant motion without force
being applied?

3. If two equal forces act upon a body in
opposite directions, what would be the result? If
the forces were unequal what would be the result?

4. What is meant by reaction? Could there be
any reaction, if there were no action? Is there
ever any action without reaction?

5. Give examples of reaction. Explain some
of its uses. Show how a .screw propeller moves a
boat.

6. If you -strike a wall with your fist you feel

78 THE DALTON PLAN

pain. Why does it not give equal pain if you
strike a pillow with your fist?

References

1. Higgins First Science Book, Chapter III,
Section 1.

2. Higgins First Science Book, pp. 50-54.

3. To find out about Sir Isaac Newton see the
American Educator or some encyclopedia. Some
of you may also be interested in consulting our
new magazine editions of The Outlines of Science
fosr Prof. J. Arthur Thomson. These have just
arrived from England.

Equivalents

Experiments will count as two days* work;
written work will count as one day's work; ref-
erences will count as two days' work.

2nd Week

SOME MOBE EFFECTS OF NEWTON'S LAWS.

Our business for this week has to do with other
effects of Newton's Laws. You will consider these
in the following order; Stability, Centrifugal
Force, Law of Falling Bodies, and the Pendulum.
Before doing the experiments which will make
these things clear to you it will be helpful to con-
sult the reference.

EXPEBIMEHT 1. STABILITY,

Directions. Stand your pencil on its end; then
lay it on its side. In which position has it the
broader base? In which is it the more stable?

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 79

Pile up three books and test the stability of the
pile. Then add as many more books as you can,
and test that. Which pile is the more stable?
Why?

Try to balance your ruler, first on its side and
then on its end. Which is easier, and why?

EXPEBIMENT 2. CENTRIFUGAL FORCE.

Directions, Tie a string to a small wooden ball
and swing it rapidly about the hand in a circle. Do
you have to use force to hold it ? Why ? Suddenly
let the ball go free and note its motion* What
direction does it tend to take? Try the same thing
with a very short string and a very long one, and
explain the difference. Note that the two forces
exactly balance each other ; for while one acts to-
ward and the other away from the centre, the ball
moves no nearer and no farther from the centre
than the length of the string allows. As soon as
you let go both forces cease to act and the ball
obeys the first law of motion.

EXPERIMENT 3. FALLING BODIES.

Directions. Drop two balls of exactly the same
size, one of wood and the other of lead, exactly
together from the same height, and note carefully
whether they strike together or not. Eepeat this
several times to be sure that the results that you
obtain are accurate.

Compare these with the fall of a sheet of paper.

EXPEKIMENT 4. THE PENDULUM.

Directions. Make two pendulums of the same
length, using a wooden ball and a lead ball. Start

80 THE DALTON PLAN

them swinging exactly together and compare the
rates of their vibrations, that is, the number of
swings made by each in a certain period of time.
What effect has the weight of the ball upon the
vibration rate of the pendulum?

Swing a pendulum through a small arc and
count its vibrations for 15 seconds. Now swing the
same pendulum through a much greater arc and
count its vibrations for 15 seconds. What effect
has the length of the arc upon the rate oi ? vibra-
tion? (The length of the arc makes a slight dif-
ference in rate if one arc is much greater than
the other, and none at all if both arcs are small.)

Make a pendulum 4 inches long, and another 16
inches long, and compare their rates of vibration.
How much longer is the second than the first?
Which vibrates the faster? What thing do you
find to make a marked difference in the vibration
rate of the pendulum?

Written WorJc
Questions.

1. What is inertia? State examples. Why can
you not start a bicycle at once at your greatest
speed?

2. What is momentum? Upon what two fac-
tors does it depend? How is it generally
measured?

3. A rifle ball weighing half an ounce moves at
the rate of one thousand feet a second, while a
forty-pound cannon ball moves at a rate of one
foot per second. Which has the greater momen-
tum?

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 81

4. Why does a woodcutter sometimes fasten
his axe in a stick and then invert it, striking the
block with the stick uppermost!

5. Why can you not stand an egg on its end?
If there were a hole straight through the earth's
centre from surface to surface, how far into it
would a falling body go?

6. Under what conditions will a body be sup-
ported from falling?

7. Upon what does the .stability of a body
depend, and how? Why is it hard to walk upon
stilts?

8. Explain the cause of centrifugal force.
State examples of it. Why do you lean in turn-
ing a corner? Why is the inside rail of a track
placed lower?

9. How far will a body fall in one second? In
two seconds? Why does a body constantly
increase its speed as it falls? Why is more dam-
age done by a longer fall as a rule?

10. Describe a pendulum. What force causes
it to swing downward? Why does it then swing
upward? If no force but gravity opposed its up-
ward swing, how far would it go as compared with
its downward swing?

References
Millikan and (Me Practical Physics, pp. 81-87.

Equivalents

The reference will count as one day's work.
The experiments will count as two days' work*
The written work will count as two days' work.

82 THE DALTON PLAN

3rd Week

WOKE: AKD MACHINES.

What is work? What is gained by using levers,
pulleys, wedges, inclined planes, etc.? These
things are all simple machines, and our task for
this week is to discover the answers to these ques-
tions. Before going on with the experiments you
will find it helpful to consult the first reference.

EXPEBIMEKT 1. PULLEYS.

Fasten a pulley to some convenient support, and
pass over it a cord having a given weight fastened
to one end of it, and a spring balance to the other*
Compare the weight with the force measured "by
the spring balance in raising it.

EXPEBIMEHT 2. PULLEYS.

Attach a weight to a movable pulley and note
the amount of power required to sustain it.

EXPEEIMEWT 3. PULLEYS.

Arrange one fixed and two movable pulleys
supporting a weight, and note the amount of
power required to sustain it. What advantage is
gained by the use of the fixed pulley? What part
of the weight does each section of the string
support?

Written Work
Questions.

1. In the case of one movable pulley what part
of the weight is supported by the spring balance?
By the hook?

2. In the case of one movable pulley in what

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 83

direction does the power act, and how could this
direction be changed by using a fixed pulley?

3. When one movable pulley is used through,
how much space must the power pass in raising
the weight one foot? When one fixed pulley is
used?

4. When you have one fixed and two movable
pulleys what portion of the weight is supported
by the fixed pulley? By the balance?

5. In the case of 4, how far must the power
move to raise the weight one foot? What is
gained by using two movable pulleys? What is
lost? How do the loss and gain compare?

6. If another fixed pulley were added in the
case of 4, what would be the effect? If another
movable pulley were added, what would be the
effect?

7. Upon what does the power gained in using
a block and tackle depend? State a rule for com-
puting it.

References

Higgins First Science Book, pp, 60-66.

Equivalents

The references will count as one day's work
each (two days) ; the experiments will count as
one day's work ; the written work will count as two
days' work.

4th Week

WORK AND MACHINES continued.

PBOBLEM:. I think that now you will find it
interesting to see the application of some of the

84 THE DALTON PLAN

machines and principles in a machine of your own.
Accordingly, I want you to construct a model of
a Travelling Jib Crane, with the Meccano set. In
operating it you will notice how the lever and
pulleys are combined to good advantage.

Written Work
Questions.

1. What is work, how is it measured, and what
is the unit of work?

2. What is meant by power ? What is the unit
of the rate of doing work? How much is one foot
pound?

3. What is a machine ? Can a machine do work
of itself?

4. What in general is the use of machines to
man?

5. State the law of machines and .show how a,
lever applies this law.

6. Why do tailor's shears have long blades and
short handles, while plumber's .shears have short
blades and long handles ?

7. Why does a bicycle of high gear run harder
than one of low gear?

8. State the advantage given by a lever of the
second class ; of the third class.

9. Name some familiar uses of the screw*

10. Explain the use of gear wheels in
machinery.

Conference

You will report to me for a conference after you
have read the following reference on "Some Com-
mon Types of Work"

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 8S

References

Caldwell and Eikenberry General Science,
Chapter XV.

Equivalents

The problem will count as two days' work; the
written work will connt as one day's work; the
conference will count as one day's work; the ref-
erence will count as one day's work.

HISTOEY ASSIGNMENTS

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

(For Fourth Grade Pupils of 8 to 9 years.)
Grade IF HISTOET 5th Contract Assignment

After Paul Eeyere had warned the "Minute
Men" that the British were coming, and after the
British had been beaten back from Concord there
was no fighting for some months. The British
were perfectly satisfied to stay in Boston and not
meddle with the " Minute Men." On June 17th,
1775, the British saw that the "Minute Men" had
put up a fort on Bunker Hill in Charlestown. If
the British did not drive the Americans off the
hill, the Americans might drive the British out of
Boston. The British attacked Bunker Hill, and
after being driven back twice with great loss of
life, they finally succeeded in driving the Ameri-
cans away, because the Americans had used up
all their ammunition. In the summer General
George Washington came to take command of the
American army near Boston, and in the spring of

86 THE DALTON PLAN

the next year, by mounting some cannon on Dor-
chester Heights, near Boston, he made the British
get into their ships and sail away. Washington
then went to New York, and the British came there
also soon after. This time the British were suc-
cessful, and Washington was driven out of New-
York and across New Jersey, with the British in
hot pursuit. When Washington crossed the Dela-
ware Eiver into Pennsylvania, the British gave
up the chase, thinking they had frightened him
away for good and all

1st Week

This week ^ are going to read how Washington
surprised the British when they least expected it.
There will be two problems to work on.

Problems

PBOBIJEM 1. Suppose you are one of Washing-
ton's soldiers at the time the British were chasing
him across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.
Write the story of how you crossed the Delaware
Eiver with Washington on Christmas night, and
how you took Trenton.

PKOBLEM 2. Again supposing you are one of
Washington's men. This time you are with the
American army at Valley Forge during the winter
of 1776-77, when the British were snugly housed
In Philadelphia, and when Washington, with his
poor little army, was shivering at Valley Forge.
Write a letter home to your children telling them
of your life in camp.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 87

References

The reference for these problems is American
Hero Stories. Use the index to find the stories
yon want. One is called "A Christmas Surprise' 7
and the other " Winter at Valley Forge/ 5

Equivalents

Each of these problems connts as two-and-a-half
days' work. Bring your compositions to me when
yon have finished them.

Departmental Cut

This written work, when accepted' by me, may
be credited as a week's work in English Composi-
tion.

2nd Week

In the summer of 1776 a very important thing
happened in Philadelphia. It was before the
British captured the city, and it was not a battle.
The Declaration of Independence was signed on
July 4th. That is what we shall study about this
week. I presume you know something about it
already. Perhaps you can find out ,some more
about it.

Problems

Here are some questions on the Declaration of
Independence. Write the answers to them, using
complete sentences in each answer.

1. "Who were in the Continental Congress?

2, Where did it meet, and when?

88 THE DALTON PLAN

3. What two important deeds did the Con-
tinental Congress do?

4. Who introduced the resolution for Inde-
pendence?

5. What five men were on the committee ?

6. Who wrote the Declaration of Independ-
ence?

7. How was the news of the Declaration of
Independence told to the people?

8. What was the exact date of the Declaration
of Independence?

Memory Work

Learn by heart the last paragraph of the Decla-
ration, beginning: "We, therefore, the Eepre-
,sentatives of the United States of America "

References

The reference for this work is Makers of the

Nation.

Bulletin Study and Conference

Will you all examine the copy of the Declaration
of Independence that is on the Bulletin Board?
At the Conference on Friday, February 17th, we
shall talk about the Declaration, and I shall ask
you what you have noticed about this copy of the
Declaration.

Equivalents

The reading counts as one day's work; the ques-
tions as two days' work; and the memory work as
two days' work.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 89

3rd Week

This week we .shall read and .study about one
of the martyrs of the Eevplution. I wonder if you
all know what a martyr is. If you do not know,
see if you can find out. This martyr's name was
Nathan Hale.

Problem

Your problem this week will be to read about
Nathan Hale, and then to come to me and let me
test you on your reading. I am giving you some
questions here to guide you as you study about
him.

1. Where was Nathan Hale born?

2. Where did he go to College?

3. Tell about his offering to go on the dan-
gerous mission for Washington.

4. What was Ms disguise?

5. Tell about his adventures and about his
capture.

6. What was done to him?

7. What were his last words?

Equivalents

The reading will count as two days' work, and
the reporting on the reading as three days' work

4tk Week

There are a great many heroes of the Eevo-
lutionary War that we might read about. We
have not time to read about all of them, but I am
hoping that you may be interested to find out more
about some of them. Here are some of the inter-

90 THE DALTON PLAN

esting ones: Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold,
Colonel Prescott, General Gates, General Her-
kimer, Israel Putnam, Mad Anthony Wayne,
Daniel Morgan, The Swamp "Will o ? the Wisp,
Nathaniel Greene, Lafayette, Baron Von Steuben,
Robert Morris, George Eogers Clark

This week we shall learn about one more great
Revolutionary hero, John Paul Jones, the "Father
of the American Navy* ' '

Problem

The problem is to read about John Paul Jones
and then to come to me and give me an oral re-
port on your reading. I shall expect you to come
and tell me what you have to say without any
questioning or help on my part. Plan your report
out before you corne to me.

I shall ask some of the children who give good
reports to repeat them at the conference on Feb
ruary 24th.

References

The references for this work are American
Hero Stories or Makers of the Nation.

Equivalents

The reading counts as two days* work, and the
report as three days' work.

ASSIGNMENT No. 2

(For Fifth Grade Pupils 9 to 10 years.)
Grade V HISTORY Sth Contract Assignment

The Persian Wars had ended, and the Greeks
were no longer afraid of attacks by the Persians.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 91

The** Athenians went tome to find their homes in
ruins, for you will remember that the Persians
had burned Athens just before the battle of
Salamis. The Spartans went home planning to
make their city the greatest in Greece. In fact,
each city had great plans of this same kind. Al-
though they had all united for the time being to
drive out the Persians, each city was jealous of
its neighbours, and we shall see what hard times
the Greeks had in the next three hundred years*

1st Week

This week we shall study one of the great
Athenian heroes, Pericles. He is, perhaps, the
greatest of all the great Athenian leaders.

Problem

After you have done the reading listed below,
write out the answers to the following questions,
using complete sentences in every answer :

1. Tell the story of the Athenians rebuilding
their walls.

2- What was Piraeus ?

3. Describe the Long Walls.

4. What are the names of the three kinds of
columns used in Greek temples?

5. What were the names of two buildings on
the Acropolis?

6. Tell what each building was used for.

7. Describe the Theatre of Dionysius.

8. Who were the three great Greek tragic
writers?

9. What is a tragedy? What is a comedy?

92 THE DALTON PLAN

10. Who was a comedy writer in Athens?

11. "Who were two historians ?

12. What changes did Pericles make in the laws

of Athens?

References

Bead in Old World Hero Stones the story called
"Pericles."

Equivalents

The reading counts as two days' work, and the
writing as three days' work.

2nd Week

We shall learn more about the Age of Pericles
this week.

Problems

There will be three problems this week

1. Draw a, plan of the front of the Parthenon,
naming the different parts.

2. Write a description of a Greek house. Tell
how the house was arranged, and compare it with
a modern house.

3. Tell, in a .story, what the children in Athens
did. Tell how they were taught, how they played,
etc.

References

The reference for 1 is Tarbell's History of
Greek Art. The reference for 2 and 3 is Old
World Hero Stones.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 93

Equivalents

Problem 1 will count for three days' work and 2
and 3 each, one day.

Bulletin Study

Examine the pictures of the Parthenon and of
Greek houses that are on the Bulletin Board.
These may help you in your work

Departmental Cut

Miss Baily is willing to credit you with three
days' work in Art for the drawing of the Par-
thenon.

3rd Week

After the time of Pericles the Athenians had
a hard time. They had a war with the Spartans,
and .the Spartans won. The Athenians were never
again as happy and as prosperous as they were
when Pericles was their leader. Almost three
hundred years later there arose a great kingdom
to the north of Greece, called Macedonia. The
king of this realm was named Philip, and he had
a son named Alexander. This is the man we are
going to study this week.

Problems

PBOBLEM 1. Here are some questions to answer
about Alexander. Write the answers in complete
sentences.

1. What tidings did the three messengers bring
to King Philip of Macedonia?

94 THE DALTON PLAN

2. Tell the story of the taming of Bucephalus.

3. Who was Alexander's teacher, and where
did he come from?

4. After Philip's death what did Alexander
decide to do?

5. How "big an army did he have ?

6. What were three of his battles?

7. Tell the story of the Gordian Knot.

8. How many cities were named after Alex-
ander?

PBOBLEM 2. The second problem is to draw a map
of Alexander's kingdom. Use coloured crayons
to show the territory that he conquered.

References

Bead about Alexander in Old World Hero
Stories, and find the map of his empire in West's
Ancient World.

Equivalents

The reading is one day's work; the writing is
two days' work; and the drawing is two days'
work.

4th Week

This week we are going to start on the study of
Borne, The first topic is the Founding of the City.

Problems

There will be two parts to the work this week.
PBOBLEM 1. First we shall all read the story of
Romulus, and be prepared to make an oral report
on it.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 95

PBOBLEM 2. I shall assign different stories to
certain members of our group, and those certain
members will be responsible for telling that story
at the conference on December 19th. These small
groups may work together and plan about the tell-
ing of their stories in any way they wish. Here
are the stories :

The Story of Aeneas

Margery, Edward, Harry, Jane, Mary.

The Stealing of the Sabine women

Doris, Louise, Donald, John.

The Women stop the Fight

Eichard, Helen B., Joseph.

The Treachery of Tarpeia

Edith, Alice, Eleanor, Arthur, Horace.

References

The references for these stories are : Old World
Hero Stories, The Story of the Romans, The
Story of the Roman People.

Equivalents

Problems 1 and 2 count as half a week's work
each.

Bulletin Study ,

You will all be interested in looking at the pic-
tures on the Bulletin Board illustrating the Story
of Aeneas and the Founding of Borne.

96 THE DALTON PLAN

ASSIGNMENT "No. 3

(For Sixth Grade Pupils 10 to 11 years.)

Grade VI 5fh Contract Assignment

ENGLISH HISTOEY

Edward III, the King of England who started
the Hundred Years' War with France, had six
sons. We have already read about the Black
Prince j he died before he could become king, and
not one of Edward's other sons became kings
either. Some of their descendants, however, did
ascend the throne, the first one being Eichard II,
about whom we have read. Then came Henry IV,
the son of the Duke of Lancaster. Henry V was
another Lancastrian, and his son Henry VI, was
also a Lancastrian, Henry VI was a very young
boy, and many people thought that the crown
should go to another descendant of Edward III,
the Duke of York. This led to disputes, and the
disputes to more violent forms of argument, until
there was started in England a war known as the
Wars of the Boses. This was called so because
the Lancastrians took for their emblem a red rose
and the Yorkists, as the followers of the Duke of
York were called, took a white rose for their
emblem.

1st Week

We .shall study about the Wars of the Eoses this
week.

Problem

The problem is to read as much as you can
about these wars, and then come to me for an oral

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 97

test on what you have read. I suggest tliat as you
read you write down on paper tlie things that you
think are important, and that you want to re-
member.

References

The references are in Piers Plowman, Bk. VI,
The Story of the English, or England's Story.

Equivalents

The reading will count as 3 days' work; the oral
test as 2 days.

2nd Week

We shall study some particular incidents in the
Wars of the Eoses this week.

Problem

The problem will be to write a composition on
one of the following topics :

1. Queen Margaret and the Bobber.

2. The Princes in the Tower.

3. The First English Printer.

References

The references are the same as last week.
NOTE: In writing this composition, remember to
put in all marks of punctuation, all capitals, etc,

Departmental Cut

If this composition passes it may count as a
week's work in your English composition.

98 THE DALTON PLAN

3rd Week

Problem

Ton are a reporter on an English newspaper.
(We will pretend that they had newspapers in the
time of Eichard III.) Yon have been assigned to
write np the Battle of Bosworth Field. Tell how
the battle came to be fought, tell about the battle
itself, and tell what came of it. Get yonr material
from any of the English History Books. Here is
a head-line for yonr story.

"Crowned on the Battlefield."

4th Week

The family of English kings that began with
Henry VII was called the Tndor family. There
were five of them, Henry VII, Henry VIII,
Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. I wish we had
time to read about them all and abont some of the
great men who lived in their time. We shall have
to pass over them, or most of them, and come to
the reign of Elizabeth, perhaps the greatest of the
Tudors.

Problem

"We shall have two problems this week, and each
one will be the snbject of an oral report. I will
give yon the problems, and I am going to let yon
find yonr material for yonrselyes. Yon are
familiar enongh by this time with the varions
books we have and can easily find your own read-
ing.
PBOBLEM 1. The Spanish Armada ; what it was ;

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 99

why it came to England; how the English made
ready to meet it; the storm; the battle; the end of
the Armada.

PBOBLEM 2. The Elizabethan Age ; what is meant
by that name ; what the names of the great figures
of that age are ; what they did.

Equivalents

Each problem and its oral report will count as
one-half a week's work.

ASSIGNMENT No. 4
(For Seventh Grade Pupils 11 to 12 years)

Grade VII 5tfi Contract Assignment

AMEEICAN HISTOBY

One Month's Assignment

After the delegates at the Philadelphia Con-
vention had made the Constitution, and the nine
states had agreed, to it, thus making it a law, the
country was ready to start governing itself. As
soon as possible the people met to elect a Presi-
dent, and they all united in choosing George
Washington for the first one. We have had
twenty-eight since Washington. From now on we
are going to study our history in a little different
way, that is, studying what went on during the
administration of each president. We shall keep
a note-book, which I will give you, and record the
things we find out about the different presidents.
We shall have at least a page for each president,

100 THE DALTON PLAN

and for some we shall liave to have more than one
page, when there were a great many important
happenings.

Problem

Our problem this month will be the preparing
in our note-books of the material about eleven of
the presidents, beginning with Washington and
ending with James K. Polk.

In your note-books put the name of the president
on the top line of the page. After his name in
parentheses put the name of the political party
that he belonged to and the dates of his adminis-
tration. On the line below put the name of the
vice-president, or vice-presidents if he had two.
Then skip a line and begin to pnt down the im-
portant facts to remember about that president's
administration. Number the facts, and begin each
on a new line. It would be a good plan to put the
facts down on paper first, and show them to me,
and then copy them into your book. Be sure to
consult me if you have any doubt about the work.
Here is a sample arrangement of a page :

George Washington (Federalist) 1789-1797.
John Adams, Vice-President.

1. Inaugurated in New York, April 30, 1789.

2.

3.

References

To get the material for your note-book read
Montgomery's Elementary History, or Mont-
gomery's Leading Facts. Use the World Almanac
for information about the vice-presidents.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 101

Equivalents

You can figure out how much to mark on your
card as yon work. There are eleven presidents,
and there are twenty working days. Therefore
some presidents would count as two days' work,
but some as only one.

No. 5
(For Eighth Grade Pupils 12 to 13 years.)

AMEEICAN HISTOBY
Grade VIII CIVICS 5fh Contract Assignment

Last month you studied about the Constitution
of the United States : you learned about the legis-
lative, executive, and judicial departments, and
what their different powers and duties were. This
month we shall review this by comparing these
same departments with those in another country;
we shall learn about some of the great figures in
public life of to-day; and we shall go and find out
some more necessary and useful knowledge about
our Constitution,

1st Week

We are all interested in England, because the
people there speak the same language that we do,
and because our forefathers came from that
country. This week we are going to see how the
parts of the Government of England are different
from the parts of our own, and how they are alike.

102 THE DALTONJPLAN

Problem

The problem will be to learn these likenesses
and differences so that yon can explain them to
anyone in a clear way. I shall test you on what
yon have learned, either orally or by written test.

References

In a pamphlet called Pupils 7 Outlines for Home
Study, Civics, Part I, pages 10-14, you will find
the necessary facts about the Governments of the
United States and England given in parallel
columns.

Equivalents

You will probably wish to do the whole week's
work at one time, but if you do not do it all at once,
consult me as to the value of portions of the work
outline.

2nd Week

In connection with the studying we did last
week, we are going to learn some current events
this week; we are going to find out^who some of
the men are who are holding the various positions
in the Governments we have been studying. You
may know some of them without looking them up.

1. President of the United States.

2. King of England.

3. Vice-President of the United States.

4. Prince of Wales.

5. Members of the Cabinet of the United
States.

6. Members of the English Cabinet

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 103

7. United States Ambassador to England.

8. English Ambassador to the United States.

9. United States Ambassador to France.

10. United States Ambassador to Italy.

11. United States Ambassador to Belgium.

12. Judges of the United States Supreme Court.

13. The Senators from New York State.

14. Speaker of the Hou.se of Bepresentatives.

15. Governor of the Philippines.

16. United States Delegates to the Disarmament
Conference.

References

You can find this information in Tlie World
Almanac, 1922.

Bulletin Study

There are pictures of some of the men in this
assignment on the Bulletin board. See if you can
add to the collection from pictures in the current
magazines or the picture -supplements of the
Sunday papers.

3rd Week

Before we leave the study of the government of
the United States there are a few things we ought
to know as intelligent citizens. We shall learn
some of those things this week.

Problems

PBOBLEM: 1. How a Law is passed through

Congress.

PROBLEM: 2. How the Constitution is amended.

What is an amendment?

104 THE DALTON PLAN

PEOBLEM 3. The amendments: what they con-
tain ; learn Nos. I-XVIIL

Wlien you have finished the study of these
problems, come to me and make me an oral report
on what you have found.

References

By this time you are sufficiently familiar with
the various books on government that we have, to
have some general idea as to where to find things,
so I am going to leave you to use your own in-
genuity in digging out information that you want.

Equivalents

The first two problems count as 2 days' work;
the last as 3 days'.

4th Week

This week we have three more problems in the
same line as last week's. The first two are to be
written out, and the last one I will test you on
when you have finished.

Problems

PEOBLEM 1. What does the Constitution prohibit
the States from doing?

PEOBLEM 2. What rights do the States have?
PEOBLEM 3. Learn the following definitions.
(Any person who wants to talk intelligently about
affairs of government should know what these
terms mean.)
1. Congress A body of men yrho make the

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 103

laws for the United States, this "body consists of
the House of Bepresentatives and the Senate.

2. Legislative Department Department that
has to do with the maMng of laws.

3. Executive Department Department that
sees that the laws are carried out.

4. Judicial Department Department that ex-
plains the laws and sentences law-breakers.

5. Original jurisdiction A court is said to
have original jurisdiction if a case is begun in that
court.

6. Appellate jurisdiction A court is said to
have appellate jurisdiction if a case is brought to
it from a lower court.

7. Admiralty Jurisdiction of cases arising
from maritime affairs and crimes committed on
the high seas.

8. Ambassador an official representing his
country in a foreign country.

9. Consul An official representing his coun-
try in a foreign country mainly for the protection
of commerce.

10. Impeachment accusing a public officer of
crime or misbehaviour while in office.

11. Habeas Corpus A warrant compelling the
investigation as to the legality of the imprison-
ment of an individual.

12. Ex Post Facto Law Makes an act criminal
which was not so when committed.

References

The material for the first two problems may be
found in the Constitution itself or in one of the
books on government.

106 THE DALTON PLAN

Equivalents

The first problem counts as 2 days* work; the
second as 1 day's and the third as 2 days 3 .

GEOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENTS

ASSIGNMENT No. 1
(Por Eighth Grade Pupils of 12 to 13 years.)

Grade VIII 4tJi Contract Assignment

GEOGRAPHY

TOPIC: CHINA.

You already know about some of China's prob-
lems through your study of the Conference for the
Limitation of Armaments. I think you will be
interested in learning more about this extraordi-
nary nation of 400,000,000 people, whose natural
abilities seem not less than ours, although their
manners and customs are so very different.

The civilization of China Is probably 2,000 years
older than that of Europe that is to say, about
4,000 years old* Some say it is much older,

1st Week
Problems

PBOBI^EM 1. The three great Chinese religions
are all much older than that of Christ. The
founder of Buddhism was a native of India. Con-
fucius and Lao-Tsin were Chinamen who gave
their names to great religions. You will read
about them all in Van Loon's story of Mankind,

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 107

pp. 240-250* Write about Iialf a page on eaeli re-
ligion.

PEOBLEM 2. Study carefully both the map on p.
243 and the illustration on p. 249.
PEOBLEM 3. You will find on the shelves a set of
pictures of Chinese life which will repay careful
study. Each picture is explained by a little para-
graph which should always be read in connection
with it. There are many pictures of Chinese life
in the back numbers of Asia and the Geographic.
I will put some of these magazines aside for you. -
PEOBLEM 4. Write a page about your first im-
pressions as a traveller in China. Write as you
feel, about the things that interest you.

Mr. Klauber has spent some time in China- He
will speak in assembly on Thursday, and will bring
some interesting pictures, coins, and paper money
as a loan exhibit for the museum*

Equivalents

Problem 1 will count as one-and-a-half days'
work; problem 2 as half a day's; problem 3 as one
day's ; problem 4 as one day's.

Departmental Cut

Consult the head of the English Department to
see how much these papers will count for English.
After they are corrected and satisfactory, re-copy
them in your notebook on religions.

2nd Week

There is a good map of China and the Far East
on p. 17 of your exercise book. You will find it

108 THE DALTON PLAN

muck simpler and clearer "than tlie map of the
Pacific.

Problems

PEOBLEM 1. Name water bodies, land bodies, pen-
insulas, countries, provinces, rivers, and canals as
directed in Exs. XIX and XX.
PBOBLEM 2. Bead pp. 200-235 in Asia, a geog-
raphy reader. In your notes lay special stress
on the causes of China's age-long isolation, the
density of the population, and the poverty of the
working-class.

In ease several people should want to do this
work at the same time, I can assign reading in
other books.

NOTE: Two Chinese students will be with us in
your Geography Conference on Thursday. They
will give suggestions for costuming the Chinese
play Mulan, and answer any questions you may
ask.

Equivalents

Problem 1 will count as two days' work; prob-
lem 2 as three days* work.

3rd Week

Problems

PBOBLEM 1. Bead about the Chinese Eepublic in
Eobinson ? s Commercial or Dodge's Advanced
Geography. Take notes and answer these ques-
tions :

1. Why is the population of China crowded
into certain provinces! Give details.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 109

2. Why do the OMnese object to labour-saving
machinery?

3. Can yon explain why they have progressed
so little in 2,000 years?

PBOBLEM 2. Find ont how silk is produced and
write about it. Befer to American Educator, or
advertising material on .shelves. Find out what
other countries produce large quantities of silk,
and what country consumes the most. Examine
the specimens in the museum and go to the studio
and ask Miss Baily to show how^ silk is woven.
Tour art assignment has to do with textiles and
dyeing this month. This is particularly interest-
ing.

NOTE : Some of you will remember attending the
Silk Show at the Grand Central Palace last spring.
Mr. Eaton of the Nonotuck Silk Company is send-
ing us some silk-worms so that you can observe
them at work*

Equivalents

The reading of problem 1 will count as two
days' work; answering the questions in problem
1 will count as one day's work; problem 2 wiE
count as two days' work.

4th Week

Problems

I am giving you a choice of subjects for research
work. Select either "The Chinese Boy" or "The
Chinese Girl." As you proceed with your read-
ing you win understand how to connect the sub-
headings, which I am about to suggest, with the
subject you have selected.

110 THE DALTON PLAN

The Chinese Boy.

Ancestor Worship

Education

Chinese Writing

Examinations

The Mandarin

The Chinese Girl.

She is not -wanted why?

Foot-binding

Clothes

Polygamy

The Mother ~in~Law

Eef er to any books on China. Look in the index
for what yon want.

There are some interesting pictures of Chinese
life and noted Chinese men in the History Labora-
tory. The Thursday conference will be in the
nature of a debate. The boys may take the side
of the Chinese boy, and the girls the side of the
Chinese girl. Question: China is the best place in
the world in which to be educated*

Equivalents

The reading of your topic will count as two
' hr '

work; the writing as three days' work.

ASSIGKMEINTT Nb. 2

(For Seventh Grade Pupils of 11 to 12 years.)
'Grade VII 4th Contract Assignment

GEOGBAPHY
TOPIC: SOUTH: AJVCBBICA.

You are commissioned by the Secretary of Com-
merce of the United States Government to visit

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 111

South America and report on the commercial re-
sources and possibilities of that continent.

1st Week

Before starting on your journey you will prob-
ably wish to familiarize yourself somewhat with
the maps of South America.

Problems

PEOBLEM 1. Make a political map of South
America showing the equator, the zones, the prin-
cipal rivers and mountain ranges.
PEOBLEM 2. Compare the positions of North
America and South America with regard to the
equator, the poles, longitudes, other continents.
PEOBLEM 3. Compare the coast lines of the two
continents. Which is poor in harbours?
PEOBLEM 4. Consult ,the steamship folders on
South America and decide on a route which will
enable you to visit all the important countries of
South America, including Bolivia. In Brazil jyou
may find4t necessary to visit two or three cities
in order to bring back an all-inclusive report to
the Secretary of Commerce.
NOTE : Instead of a conference this week we are
all going to Central Park to witness the unveiling
of the Statue "Bolivar" by two of our children
Patricia and Maraquita MacManus whose great
grandfather was the first President of Bolivia. It
is interesting to us all to know that this statue is
the work of Peggy's modelling teacher.
RBOBLEM 5. For a brief account of the history of

112 THE DALTGN PLAN

South. America read pp. 203-205 in Tarr and
McMurry. Book IL
Eeport orally on Problems 2 5 3, 4 and 5.

Equivalents

Problem 1 will count as two days' work; Prob-
lems 2 and 3 as a day's work; Problem 4 as one
day's work; Problem 5 as one day's work.

2nd Week
Ton are now ready to start on your journey.

Problems

PROBLEM: 1. I suggest that you make only short
visits to Venezuela and the Gruianas, noting only
the chief products and the climatic peculiarities.
PBOBLBM 2. The United States is deeply in T
terested in the actual and potential resources of
Brazil. Ascertain at the several ports ^what pro-
ducts are being exported, in what quantities.
PEOBLEM 3. Learn as much about the valley of
the Amazon as possible. Inform yourself on the
subject of rubber.

References

You will find information that will enable you
to interpret your experiences in some of the fol-
lowing books :

Geography of Commerce and Industry Robin-
son.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 113

American Educator.

Man and His Work Herbertson.

Advanced Geography.

Tarr and McMurry* Book IL

Story of Bubber John Martin.

Written Work
Take notes for your own use on each problem.

Equivalents

Problem 1 (with notes) will count as one day's
work; Problem 2 as two days' workj Problem 3 as
two days' work.

3rd Week

Continue your journey and conclude it.

Problems

PROBLEM 1. Make only brief visits to Uruguay
and Paraguay.

PBOBLEM 2. Visit Argentine, making detailed in-
quiries as you did in Brazil,
PBOBLEM 3. Visit Peru and Chile, making de-
tailed inquiries as before and investigating the
influence of the Andes Mountains upon the climate
of these countries.

PBOBLEM 4. Make a short visit to Colombia to
ascertain whether there are any prospective oil
fields there.

References

See last week's assignment

114 THE DALTON PLAN

Written Work
Take notes as yon did last week.

Equivalents

Problems 1 and 4 will connt as one-half a day's
work each; Problems 2 and 3 as two days' work
each.

4th Week

The Secretary expects to receive your report by
the 10th. It should be based on your notes _ and
should comprise not less than ten closely written
pages.

Equivalents

Two or more pages will count as one day's work.
The report will not be considered complete, how-
ever, unless all yonr notes have been embodied
in it.

ASSIGNMENT No. 3
(For High School Pupils of 13 to 14 years.)

High School GEOGRAPHY

1st Tear 4th Contract Assignment

We have worked for some time on problems sug-
gested by the Conference on Disarmament with
special reference to China and Japan. We are
now about to take up some of the same problems
and many new ones, from the viewpoint of Im-
perial Britain.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 115

1st Week

Problems

PEOBLEM L Bead in the New World, by Isaiah
Bowman a recent and authoritative book on
political geography Chapter II on " Problems
of Imperial Britain, pp. 12-16, the introductory
paragraphs in which the extent of the British Em-
pire and the gains resulting from the Great War
are discussed. The entire Chapter runs from p.
12 p. 79.

It will be worth your while to take rather full
notes.

PROBLEM: 2. On p. 31 of Practical Map Exercises,
Eastern Hemisphere, you will find a map of the
world. Trace this map. List the parts of the
British Empire as classified on p. 29 of The New
World. Locate these parts on the map, using neat
printed abbreviations or corresponding numbers
rather than whole words.

You will find a map of the world with the British
Empire shown in red in Lyde's Economic Atlas.
In Band & McNally's Atlas of Eeconstruction you
will find what additions have been made to the
Empire since 1914.

Equivalents

Problem 1 will count as three days' work; Prob-
lem 2 as two days 3 work.

2nd Week

Problems

PEOBLEM 1. In the New World read carefully
(taking notes as usual) pp. 16-27 on The Trade

116 THE DALTON PLAN

Organization of the Empire and the paragraphs
on ^ p. 28 which deal with the policies of Great
Britain towards the parts of her Empire.
PROBLEM 2. Supplement your notes with a one-
page discussion of one of the following subjects :

The relation of coal to industry.

The points of resemblance between England
and Japan.

Free trade and protection as national policies.

Equivalents

Problem 1 will count as three days' work; Prob-
lem 2 as two days * work.

3rd Week

The five self-governing dominions Canada,
Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and New-
foundland constitute a bulwark rather than a
menace to the British Empire* Yet they are not
entirely satisfied with their large measure of
freedom, as you will read on pp. 29-30 of The New
World, by Bowman.

The most acute problems confronting Great
Britain arise (according to Bowman, who evi-
dently considers South Africa from two distinct
standpoints) from these portions of the empire
wherein an intense nationalism threatens revolu-
tion: Ireland, South Africa, India, and Egypt.
Since the writing of this book an agreement has
been reached between English and Irish delegates
which apparently solves the problem of Ireland.
The circumstances and terms in the New World,
taking detailed notes. (This account of the Irish

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 117

question seems lacking in several particulars,)
Find out about :

1. The great Irish leaders of the Nineteenth
Century.

2. The Sinn Fein Party.

Equivalents

The reading and notes will count as three days*
work; the questions discussed with me will count
as two days' work,

4th Week

Bring to school any books or magazines you can
find that contain accounts of the Irish controversy,
or of the agreement recently arrived at I will
bring anything I can find.

Decide what aspect of the question interests
you most, and assign yourself a definite amount of
reading.

Write a paper of say, 3 pages, from the Ulster,
British, or ^ Sinn Fein point of view. Stress
radical, religious, political or economic differ-
ences, as seems best to you. You will be given
credit for this paper in the English department.
The best one will be read in assembly on Wed-'
nesday.

NOTE : Mr. Seumas MacManus, the Irish writer,
will be at the school on Tuesday, He will attend
your conference the third week. On Tuesday of
the fourth week Mr. Humphrey (who is well
known in political circles and who officiated at the
opening of Sulgrave Manor) wiU take up any
side of the Irish controversy on which you may de-

118 THE DALTON PLAN

sire to question him. It may be interesting for
yon to talk with Tom, the Scotch carpenter, who
has some decided views.

MATHEMATICS ASSIGNMENT

ASSIGNMENT No. 1.
r (For Eighth Grade Pnpils of 12 to 13 years.)

Grade VIII 5fh Contract Assignment

MATHEMATICS

It often happens that a business undertaking
may be too large for one or two individuals to
supply all the money which may be needed, and
so a number of persons unite and form what is
called a stock company or corporation. For in-
stance, you would like $50.00 or more for your
"Puppet Theatre." We shall suppose that all
who are in Grades VII and VIII were to form a
stock company and agree to take a certain number
of shares.

We shall call the stock company the "Puppet
Theatre Corporation/ ' Edgar will be the com-
pany's agent, so he will sell the shares. He will
be furnished with some blank certificates, so you
may come to him for shares.

The company's capital will amount to $50.00
and each share will be valued at $1.00. If Alice
buys 10 shares she will have to pay $10.00. It will
be Edgar *s business to sell his shares in such a
way that all members of Grades VII and VIII
may be shareholders.

A company's profits are called its dividends and

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 119

are divided at regular periods among the share-
holders according to the number of shares each
possesses.

Stock is not money, but it can be bought and sold
for money, and a shareholder can get money for
his stock only by selling it to some person who is
willing to buy. The par value is the real value
of each share. Stocks are at a discount, or at a
premium, according as the shares sell for below or
above their par value.

1st Week

STOCKS. "We shall now have some problems on
the buying and selling of these stocks.

Bulletin Study

On the bulletin board in the mathematics room
you will find a list containing the names of the
pupils who have bought shares. This list will also
indicate the number of shares they have bought.

Problems

1. Find out how much, annual dividend
Gretchen would receive from her shares at 4%%
per year,

2. Find the annual dividends of all the share-
holders if the rate is 5% per year.

3. How much 2%% stock must Eugene hold in
order to obtain an annual income of $1.00!

4. How many shares at 56y 2 % could he buy for
$30.00?

5. Elizabeth Sandier sells 6 of her "Puppet

120 THE DALTON PLAN

Theatre " sltares at 35% and invests the proceeds
in bank stock at $.45. How many shares of bank
stock does she buy?

6. Work questions 8, 9, 10 on page 245 and
questions 2, 3, 4, 5 on page 244 of the Ontario
Public School Arithmetic*

Written Work

As usual, you will work these problems in your
note-books.

Conference

During our conference, which fortunately comes
early in the week, Edgar will sell his stock. We
shall make out a list of the shares sold, ready to
post on the bulletin board.

Equivalents

Problems 1 and 2 count for one day's work;
Problems 3, 4 and 5 count for one day's work:
Problem 6 counts as three days 7 work.

2nd Week

Interest is the money paid for the use of
money,

The Principal is the sum of money on which the
interest is charged,

The Amount is the .sum due at maturity. It
contains both principal and interest.

The rate is the number of per cent of the princi-
pal in the yearly interest.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 121

References

Bead carefully paragraph 390 on page 184 of
"The New Practical Arithmetic."

Problems

Work the problems given under 391.

You will notice that it asks for the interest on
these different snms at 6% for 60 days, 30 days, 90
days, 6 days, 12 days, 18 days, 3 days, 2 days, 24
days. Do them in the simplest way possible.

Equivalents
Any four problems count a day's work

Written Work or Oral Report

You should be able to do a great number of these
mentally. The rest may be worked in your note-
books.

Conference

I shall spend the time of this week's conference
in explaining the first principles of interest to
those of you who have not had any problems in
Interest.

3rd Week

BEVIEW. "We shall devote our time this week to a
general review.

Problems

1. A lot is 8.5 rods long and 6.4 rods wide.
What decimal part of an acre is it?

122 THE DALTON PLAN

2. Change 3/25 to a decimal and divide the
result by .25; by 2.5; by 25.

3. What part of a cubic foot is a block 12
inches by 6 inches by 2 inches.

4. How much will it cost to insure a house for
$7,200.00, at 3/8% ; at 3/10% : at 1/4% ?

5. A dealer sold 65% of his stock of lumber and
then had 7,000 ft left : How much lumber had he
before the sale?

6. A house worth $4,500.00 is insured for 2/3
of its value at 3/5% what is the premium?

7. What is the interest on $1.00 for 1 year at
6%? For 3 years? For 2y 2 years?

8. What is the interest on $1.00 for 30 days at
6%? for 6 days? For 18 days? For 24 days?

9. A man who owned 3/4 of a mine sold 1/3 of
Ms share for $2,650.00; at this rate what is the
value of the mine?

10. A circle is 14 ft. in diameter. Find the area
and the circumference.

11. What is the ratio of 3% ft. to 10% ft.? 6
in. to 18 in.? 12% Ibs. to 50 Ibs.?

12. What decimal equals 1/4 ; 3/4 ; 1/3 ; 2/3 ; 1/6 ;
5/6; 1/8; 3/8^3/5; 4/5?

13. A girl is 15 years old and her age is 3/10
of the age of her father. How old is her father?

14. How many times will a hoop 7 ft. in diam-
eter turn around in rolling 132 feet? 83 feet?

15. A boy gave 2/5 of his money for a slate and
1/10 of it for a ruler. What part had he left?

Equivalents
Any three questions count as one day's work.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 123

Written Work

Keep a record of these in your note-books.
Mark any which yon f onnd difficulty in solving.

4th Week

CIJBVED SURFACES.

Ton will remember that we worked some easy
problems in circles, curved surfaces, etc., during
the first week of your 4th assignment.

Problems

These problems are a continuance of the work
of the 4th assignment.

PEOBLEM. Work the questions in Exercise XIX
of Book 1, Philips' Arithmetic.
NOTE : You may choose either this or one of the
weeks in Algebra in Part B.

Equivalents
The exercise counts for five days 9 work.

This completes Part A.

In our conference this week we shall have a gen-
eral review of the work of the 5th Assignment.

124: THE DALTON PLAN

PABTB.

ALGEBRA

Part B is not compulsory for all of you, but I
should like as many as possible to try it. If you
complete parts B and satisfactorily, you will be
marked a "maximum pupil " on your report

Problems

"Will you read very carefully pages 1 and 2 of
the General Mathematics.
PBOBLBM 1. What is an equation?

Explain to me either orally or by means of
written work how this experiment proves that if
the same number be subtracted from both sides of
an equation the remainders are equal.
PBOBLEM 2. There is another experiment de-
scribed on page 3 which proves that if both sides
of an equation are divided by the same number the
quotients are equal. Can you explain this also!

Work all the problems on pages 2 and 4

Equivalents
EQUATIONS.

The parts of an expression separated by plus
(+) and minus ( ) signs are called the terms of
a number.

Thus 2a and 3b are the terms of the number
2a-f-3b. A one term number is called a monomiaL

PEOBLEM 1.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 123

Problems

8-7-2= ? 8a?-~7#-2a?= J

8+2-7= I 8o;+2#-7#= f

2+8-7= ?

The value of an expression is tmelianged if the
order of its terms is changed, provided each term
carries with it the sign at its left. If no sign is ex-
pressed at the^left of the first term of an expres-
sion the plus sign is understood.

SlMILAB AND DlSSIMILAB TEEMS.

Terms which have a common literal factor, as
2x, 3x and 5#, are similar terms. Their sum is a
one-term expression, namely, ICte. When terms
do not have a common literal factor, as 2x and 3^
they are called dissimilar terms.

Algebraic expressions are simplified by combin-
ing similar terms. Combining similar terms in
either the right or the left member of an equation
gives us the same equation in simpler form.
PEOBLEM 2. Solve the following equations :

2.
3.
4.

5. 20+4^-38-10^.

6. 5a?+3-^=o?+18.

7. 7r+18+3r=32+2r~2.
8.

9. 253/~20-72/-5=

126 THE DALTON PLAN

Equivalents

Problem 1 counts as one-half a day's work; In
Problem 2, two questions count as one day's
work.

PART 0.

Work the following problems :

PBOBLEM 1 : A garden roller is 4 ft. 8 in. in circum-
ference, and is 2 ft. 10 in. long. How many square
yards of ground would be covered when it has
turned 12 times?

PBOBLEM 2. The sides of a wooden building 50 ft,
long, 18% ft wide, and with walls 12% ft. high,
are to be painted. Find the area that is to be so
treated.

AET ASSIGNMENTS

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

(For Fifth Grade Pupils of 9 to 10 years,)
ffirade V AET 3rd Contract Assignment

CHBISTMAS GTFTS
Block printed mat or magazine cover.

1* Study the illustrative material block
printed mat and designs and blocks posted on the
green bulletin board Notice the^nice, interesting

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 127

spacing in the designs it is not all alike. Notice
the interesting edges of the designs. They have
variety also.

2. How to begin: Choose the size yon wish
your design to be and cut out a piece of manilla
drawing paper that size. Next decide upon the
shape shall it be a leaf shape or a flower shape.
Think about the curves and make them beautiful
when you cut them. When you have a large shape
so cut that it pleases you, think about the edges.
Can you make those edges more interesting?
Study again the edges of the designs on the bul-
letin board. Notice that the edges are decorated
in an orderly way. See what you can do to yours.

"When your edges have been decorated think of
the central part of your design. Here you must
consider your spacing quite carefully. Be sure
that you have variety, and be sure that the shape
of the centre design looks well with the outside
shape. Use a dark paper for this part of the de-
sign. Arrange your design carefully, and bring it
to me for criticism.

The making of your design is one week's work*
How TO MAKE YOTTK BLOCK.

Trace your design onto a piece of thin white
tracing paper by drawing around each part of it.
If you do not understand, ask me to show you how
to do it.

When your design is well traced, get a piece of
linoleum the right size from me, put a thin coat
of paste all over your linoleum, and spread your
tracing paper on top. With a newspaper over
this, rub carefully with a pencil.

When this has thoroughly dried, you are ready

128 THE DALTON PLAN

to cut your block. Ask me to show yon how to
do it,

This will count for two-and-a-half days' work.

HOW TO PUT YOUR DESIGN ONTO YOUE MAT OR MAGA-

ZINE COYER.

We call this " blocking the design," or " block
printing " it. I will have to show you how to do
this, but you may get the following materials be-
fore asking me to help you.

10 pins, spool of thread, your block print, a
ruler, 4 thumb tacks and your linen or silk, a
drawing-board and either 4 paper towels or a
piece of felt or cotton for padding.
Blocking and making your gift is one-and-a-half
weeks 'work. That means you have done three
weeks * work altogether.

ASSIGNMENT No. 2

(For Seventh Grade Pupils of 11 to 12 years.)
Gradfi VII ART ASSIGNMENT 3rd Month

CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Stencilled Bag or Stencilled Table Centre.

Materials to work with: Manilla paper, scissors,
illustrative material posted on the board or found
on the brown table.

The design itself : Study carefully the illustra-
tive material. Notice the variety of shapes, the
interesting shapes, the fact that either the dark or

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 129

the light is most important, thef act that your back-
ground must be interesting as well as your fore-
ground, and that it all holds together, making a
single unit or design.

How to begin: Choose the shape and size yon
wish your motif to be. Decide whether it shall be
a leaf or a flower motif. Fold your paper in half
(after you have cut it the correct size), then open
it out before beginning to cut out your design.

Your design : Study your paper and see if you
can find a design in it. Work on just half of your
paper first, then folding it, make the other "half
like the first. Cut the general shape first, either
leaf or flower. Then begin to work out a design
for the centre, thinking carefully about the dark
and light shapes. Be sure to have variety and
beautiful line. Bring your design to me for
criticism. Cut design from stencil paper.

APPLICATION o DESIGK.

Ask me to show you how to do the stencilling.
Choose carefully the size and proportion of your
bag and table runner. Decide just where your de-
sign is to go. Your design may be used as a
border on either the bag or table runner. Try re-
peating it on paper at different distances apart to
see wMch looks the best. Try to have the space
between your designs make an interesting shape.
"When you have planned your repeats let me see
the arrangement before you put it on the ma-
terial.

Materials you will need for stencilling: Pins,
thread, stencil brush, paint, silk or linen for your
Christmas gift.

130 THE DALTON PLAN

MUSIC ASSIGNMENT

ASSIGNMENT No. 1

(For Sixth Grade Pupils of 10 to 11 years.)
Grade VI MUSIC 5tT% Contract Assignment

1st Week
READING.

We will continue our study of folk songs.
Choose two songs from the list we made last
month and study in this way :

1. What is the pulse? Clap the rhythm. What
are the rhythmic patterns?

2. Find the melodic patterns; write these in
your music notebook and mark the number of
times each appears. Sing the first phrase. Sing
the second phrase, and so on through the song.

3. Where is the home-tone? Spell the major
scale from that tone. Spell the major chord from
that tone. Are there any phrases made entirely
from tones of that chord?

4. Play the song on the piano (melody only).
Can you play it in another key?

5. Write the song from memory in your note-
book. Ee-write it in another key.

The above will count as five days' work.

2nd Week

SINGING.

1. Study exercises Nos. 21, 22, 23, and 24 IB
your solfege book. Do not mark your card until
have sung these in our conference.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 131

Three days' work.

2. We will devote part of our conference time
to the learning of these songs: (a) All the Birds
have Come Again; (5) Early One Morning; (c)
Now the Day is Over.

Memorizing the words will count for two days'
work.

3rd Week

RHYTHM.

1. Divide the following exercises into meas-
ures, indicated by the pulse signature, and sing
them on any one pitch, as do, mi*

4d J J XXXXd J-XJ J J.J
4 J J J.J XXJ J-XJ J-

4 J J J J. XXXJXXXXJJXXJJ

This will count as one day's work.

2. Scan the words of the song "Lady Moon."
Draw the note heads, the pulse signature, and the
bars. Be sure all measures are filled

Three days* work.

3. Here are the first phrases of folk songs you
know. Do you recognize them? When you are
sure you do, put in pulse signatures and bars and
the words represented here.

132 THE DALTON PLAN

j j j J j j j j.

j. n j

One day's work.

You should be able to recognize rhythms
through the ear and to reproduce them in written
symbols. Our ear training drills will help you to
do this*

4th Week

Harmonize one of the folk songs you studied
under BEADING.

Two days* work.
HISTOBY.

In your English work this month you are going
to write about the life of some great musician.
You will find on the bulletin board in the music
room pictures of musicians about whom we have
studied, also a list of questions concerning these
musicians which will help you to remember the
points we discussed in our study*

The work in English will count as two days*
work in music.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS 133

VOCABULAEY.

The composer marks Ms composition "adagio" :
lipw mil you play it ? Will a cradle song be played
piano or forte?

One day's work

CHAPTEE VII

THE GRAPH METHOD OF RECOEDING PEOGEESS

we first began to put the Dalton Laboratory
Plan into operation the pupils were given a daily
diary in which they were expected to enter the
amount of work they had done in each subject be-
fore leaving any laboratory. But this method, be-
sides imposing a great deal of extra reading upon
the teacher, soon proved itself inadequate to the
purpose. At the same time it was evident that some
measure of time and work was essential. Fre-
quently pupils who had worked steadily were sur-
prised to find themselves behindhand with their
contract job at the end of the week. Without a
check to show them exactly what they had done
they were, we found, apt to devote too much time
to a favourite subject and not enough to the
others. Often, indeed, they wandered altogether
from the assigned requirements and even from the
subjects indicated therein. The time allotted was
being used without any real sense of responsi-
bility. Comprehension of what that responsibility
entailed was lacking. As long as time was not
consciously wasted pupils failed at that moment
to grasp that the proper division of their time was
essential to _the good and satisfactory use of it.
They were like people who expect you to pardon

134

THE GRAPH METHOD 135

their errors of judgment on consideration of their
good intentions. They did not budget time, they
merely squandered it.

I have already related my early experiments
when the graph method of checking progress first
occurred to me. Its superiority to the diary soon
became evident, and henceforward it was adopted
as an integral portion of the Dalton Plan. This de-
vice not only helps the pupil to measure his time
wisely, but also to adjust it to the fulfilment of
Ms job. It made the contract stand out clearly as
a whole unit, and imparted a sense of responsi-
bility without driving the pupil. But the graph
has done more than that It has lightened the
teacher's task and simplified the organization of
work in the laboratories and the general organiza-
tion of the school.

There are three different kinds of graphs. The
first is the Instructor's Laboratory Graph, which
is kept in the laboratory under the direction of the
specialist in charge. These graphs are printed in
five or more colours, one for each of the different
forms. The following sample, like all my graphs,
is made by the Educational Supply Association, 40A
Holborn Viaduct, London, and can be procured IB
the United States through the Children's Uni-
versity School.

This sample Graph I assumes that there are
thirty-five pupils in the class. I have filled in a
few names in order to illustrate clearly the method
of marking progress. Mary, Clara, Dorothy, and
Helen have, we will suppose, finished the work re-
quired during the first week of the monthly assign-
ment. Each girl, therefore, draws a line opposite

136 THE DALTON PLAN

to her name through, the five spaces to indicate the
work accomplished. These five spaces represent
five days 7 work. Frances, having only done two-
fifths of the week's work, draws her line across
two of the five spaces, while Mildred and Anne
record their three-fifths in the same way. The
equivalents indicated in the assignment show them
tow to reckon their work.

By this method the instructor can tell at a glance
exactly what progress each pupil has made in any
given subject, and by consulting the graphs in the
other laboratories she can follow Ms progress in
all the subjects of his contract. The graph also
shows which subjects are most interesting to the
child, and to what extent the assignment affects
the development of the class as a whole.

On the other hand, it is equally valuable to the
pupil who is conscious every time he marks the
graph, both of what work he has done and of what
remains to do. He can, at the same time, compare
Ms achievement with that of his fellow pupils. Of
course, the quick, intelligent child will make, at
least in some subjects, more rapid progress than
the slow or stupid child. But having checked his
progress himself, he has no sense of unfairness in
the estimation of his powers. The graph elimi-
nates the discouraging feeling of being at a disad-
vantage in comparison with others, which is so
afflicting to a slow child under the class system*
Very often, too, the pupil, who is abnormally slow
in some subjects, is shown by the graph method to
be abnormally quick in some one subject for which,
he has a natural aptitude. By budgeting his time
he can make better progress in getting ahead.

THE GRAPH METHOD

137

INSTRUCTOR'S LABORATORY GRAPH.

SUBJECT
V^ i-sfor U

j FORM I

ITC 1

ASSIGNMENT

X

INSTRUCTOR
R M S.

NAMES

1

2

3

4

S

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

M-

15

16

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19

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Mayy. fc.

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3

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22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

DaUon GVapfc, No* 1. Copyright, Children's University School*
GRAPH I

(Actual size: 12 by 8 in.)

138 THE DALTON PLAN

Graphs are, moreover, very helpful to a teacher
in the choice of the right moment to offer special
help or instruction to her pupils. If, for instance,
she observes that several children have reached
the same stage in their work on any given subject,
she can give them an appointment to meet her to-
gether on the following day at a fixed hour in the
laboratory belonging to that subject. These ap-
pointments should be posted on the students > gen-
eral notice board. Any individual or group, or, if
advisable, the entire class, can be summoned in
this way for help and consultation. Experience
has shown us that students appreciate these calls.

We come now to graph II, or, as it is called, the
PupiPs Contract Graph, whereby a studeiit can
watch and record his progress in all the subjects
of his assignment. Each time he marks the lab-
oratory graph as I have described he makes a cor-
responding line for that subject upon Ms own par-
ticular graph. It is, as it were, a balance sheet of
his time. Before beginning work, every morning
he ought to study it carefully, for it automatically
reminds him both of his weakness in some subjects
and of the time which he should set aside to over-
come that weakness. The PupiFs Contract Graph
has, we find, done more than anything to inculcate
the value of time and a sense of responsibility for
its use. It has also generated a spontaneous de-
sire to save time so that special difficulties should
be conquered. These graphs stimulated thor-
ough work rather than hurried work. The
pupil's graph is printed in different colours cor-
responding to the laboratory graphs.

Most of the headings and spaces on the sample

THE GRAPH METHOD

139

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140 THE DALTON PLAN

pupil *s graph explain themselves, but a brief ex-
planation of how it is to be used as a record is
necessary. It will be seen that at the bottom of the
card, ten spaces are provided for the names of the
maximum number of subjects a pupil can carry.
Under these spaces there are similar blanks
against the word "Test." ^This word can, of
course, be interpreted in various ways. I do not
myself believe that examinations supply any real
test of a pupil's knowledge or ability. But the
word and the space have been included in the
graph for the use of such schools as hold period-
ical examinations*

The four spaces marked "1st week, 2nd week,
3rd week, 4th week* ' correspond to the four weekly
assignments or divisions of any monthly contract.
In order to indicate the days in a school week each
weekly partition has five separate spaces. This
makes it possible for a pupil who has, let us sup-
pose, done three-fifths of a week's work in mathe-
matics to draw an upward line through three of
the five spaces. If he has only completed half a
week's work he should draw the line through two-
and-a-half spaces.

Betty Underwood is twelve years of age, a pupil
in Form II, who begins her contract job on Octo-
ber 5th. Only major subjects are entered in her
graph, and in this, her first assignment, she carries
Mathematics, History, Geography, English,
Science, and French. Being a voluntary agent in
the use of her time, Betty decides on her first day
to study history. She therefore goes into the his-
tory laboratory and stays there until she has ex-
hausted her interest in the history part of her as-

THE GRAPH METHOD 141

signment and desires a change of subject. Before
leaving it slie consults the teacher in charge and
ascertains that she has done the equivalent in time
of three-fifths of a week's work in history. She
records this by drawing a line across three spaces
on the Instructor ? s Laboratory Graph, and in her
new Pupil Contract Graph she draws another line
up through three of the five spaces. At the end of
each line she places a figure one (1) to show that
it is her first work day on this particular assign-
ment.

Betty then elects to go into the English lab-
oratory. On reading through the English assign-
ment she will find that owing to the varied nature
of the work equivalents in time are given. Gram-
mar, she is told, will count for two days' work;
reading for two more days; and composition for
one day. Being in no mood for composition she
decides to read, and does all the reading required
in her assignment. As there is still a little time
left before^ twelve o'clock, she attacks her gram-
mar, finishing half of the amount required. Her
equivalent is thus one space indicating one day 'of
work for grammar and two spaces or two days,
for reading; so after drawing a line through three
spaces on the Instructor's Laboratory Graph, she
marks the English column on her own graph in the
same way.

The entire morning of her second day is spent
by Betty in the science laboratory. Consequently,
she not only finishes her first week's assignment in
science, but also does one day's work of the second
week's requirements. To indicate this, she adds
the figure "2" at the end of the graph line which

142 THE DALTON PLAN

covers six spaces, showing that the sixth space is
included in her second day's work of the first
week.

The second sample of Graph II shows Betty 's
completed contract, the numbers attached to the
end of each line indicate the day on which she has
done a given piece of work. What we constantly
should note is whether or not the children are com-
pleting the twenty days' allotted work in twenty
days or not.

If Betty had worked for five days and then
absented herself through illness, upon the day of
her return to school she would have marked every-
thing accomplished with a "6." We do not want
her to feel that she has lost ground but rather to
measure the ground covered in terms of time
taken. In this way we can fairly measure her with
her contemporaries.

In reading her graph we see that she has
finished her assignment in the allotted twenty days.
The figure "4" entered under the heading "No.
of weeks 75 shows this. But if the assignment had
taken her twenty-two days she would have added
the figure "2" under the heading "No. of days,"
signifying four weeks and two days for the
monthly contract job.

On the nineteenth day, though Betty had com-
pleted her first month's work in mathematics, she
was not permitted to start the second month's
work in this subject, because her contract requires
fulfillment in all its parts before taking on extra
work in any one part The object of the Pupil's
(Contract Graph is only to measure laboratory time,
&o only assigned subjects should be entered there-

THE GEAPH METHOD

143

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144 THE DALTON PLAN

upon. But before Betty terminates her month she
will have been submitted to tests or examinations
during the concurrent oral lessons. Had these
successive tests revealed that Betty had been able
to accomplish all her allotted work in, say fifteen
days, she could -safely have been permitted to
tackle her second month's assignment in mathe-
matics, for her general written examination would
be fixed with those of all the pnpils in the form at
the end of the twenty days. It would not be fair
to make Betty regulate her pace on that of the
slower pupils. But this is a question which each
instructor's experience of individual pupils will
enable her to decide.

Under the Dalton Plan there is no danger that
a child will have forgotten by the end of the month
what she learnt at the beginning. Having studied
each subject at his own pace at the moment when
interest was keenest, the knowledge thus acquired
fixes itself far more deeply in the memory than
under the old class system, when he was often un-
willingly forced to cram a lesson for recitation on
the following day, which faded from his mind im-
mediately after.

As I have indicated, in cases where a pupil is
obliged to interrupt Ms job owing to absence
through illness he takes it up on his return at the
point where he left it. As there are no programme
conflicts under our method, he can also enter
school at any time during the term. A child
simply marks Ms day on the basis of Ms accom-
plishment as he goes on, just as a time contractor
is paid for his job whatever it may be according to
the number of days he works at it.

THE GRAPH METHOD 145

From the social point of view we have also
found the graph device invaluable. The tendency
among members of a form is always to compare
their graphs. Elder students also develop interest
in, and sympathy with, the progress of the
younger children, and frequently help them with-
out any prompting from the teacher with advice
on the division of their time and on the best way
to overcome difficulties of all kinds. Thus group
control and the sentiment of fraternity spreads
through the .school to the lasting benefit of all con-
cerned.

To become masters not only of their time and
work, but also of themselves, is a real preparation
for life where we have to learn to do the work that
lies before us whether we are interested in it or
not. And even interest grows out of the sense of
problems solved and obstacles conquered. As a
child once remarked to a teacher whom I know:
"You learn that whatever you have to do can be-
come what you want to do." That child was not
by any means an abnormally intelligent specimen.
He was, on the contrary, rather below the average,
a boy who had after much struggle and persever-
ance risen above Ms natural difficulties. And I
think I can claim that it was the DaltonPlan which
enabled him to attain self-mastery*

On the back of the Pupil's Contract Graph there
is a blank space for a list of suggestions to pupils
which can be made either by the staff or by a com-
mittee of students. Here they can be told exactly
how to use their graphs, and such recommenda-
tions as "If you find one laboratory crowded it is

146 THE DALTON PLAN

advisable to go into another in order to avoid
wasting your time' 3 may be included. Do not,
however, let the suggestions degenerate into a list
of rules. This can be avoided by allowing stu-
dents to make suggestions from time to time which
will, moreover, stimulate their imagination as
well as develop the sense of responsibility. Young
children may not be capable of this, but girls and
boys between twelve and twenty should certainly
be called upon occasionally to make snggestions
for their own form.

Graph III is a Form or, as in England, a House
Graph in which emphasis is placed upon the entire
number of weeks of work done. For convenience
it is designed with forty spaces so as to record
progress in as many as ten subjects. If six major
subjects out of the curriculum are carried by one
pnpil, then, with four weeks of work to be done in
each subject, the total contract will represent
twenty-four weeks. Five subjects represent
twenty weeks, and so on. Graph III, of which the
following is a sample, should be marked every
week either at its beginning or at its close. It may
be cut to fit the number of weeks required by any
contract.

By using a fresh Form or House Graph every
week we can get a psychological picture of the gen-
eral progress of each class and of the whole school,
These records should be dated and carefully pre-
served in its archives. Graph HI should contain
a space for every pupil in the house or form. We

THE GRAPH METHOD

147

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148

THE DALTON PLAN

will continue Betty's story to illustrate how it
should "be used.

Assuming that she has done, during one weekly
period of five days, an equivalent of four days of
history, three days of English, and five days of
geography, six days of science, and one day of
French, or nineteen days in all, we proceed to
divide nineteen by five in order to establish how
many weeks of work she has completed towards
her total. Our result being three and four-fifths,

ATTENDANCE GEAPH

DAY AND DATE JW^U^ M- / ^*

NAMES

A. M.

P. M.

ON TIME

LATE

ON TIME

L.ATE,

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GRAPH IV

Betty is entitled to mark three spaces and the
greater part of a fourth space on the Form Graph.
A fourth graph for the registration of attend-
ance is used in some day schools, either one graph
for the whole school if it is small, or one for each
form if preferred. The Attendance Graph should
be posted on the hall notice board so that each
pupil can record the hour of her arrival every
morning. We have not a printed card for this
graph ? but it is very simple to design. Under the

THE GRAPH METHOD 149

date is a list of all the children's names, and
opposite each two spaces, one headed " Punctual/ ?
the other headed * * Late. '* Good timekeepers mark
their arrival in the first space, the late ones record
the exact time which, they can see on the clock
that should hang above the notice hoard when
they reach school The absence of any pupil is in-
dicated by the blank space.

CHAPTEE VIII

TEACHING

PBESOITALLY I am of opinion that teaching has been
done more efficiently throughout the world than
many critics of our educational system realize.
Our schools contain a large number of instructors
who possess a wide knowledge both of the subjects
they teach and of the methods of handling and
simplifying that knowledge* If we fail to recog-
nize the high level the teacher frequently attains
it is because teaching so often proves ineffective
because the learner does not learn. The truth is
that we have hitherto confused the problems of
teaching and of learning, or, rather, treated them
as if they were not two problems, but one. We
have not hitherto appreciated the fact that teach-
ing is simply like taking the horse to the water. It
can, on the old system, no more make the learner
learn than, the leader of the horse can make him
drink.

Teachers are not, however, to blame because our
school machinery has been carefully built up from
the point of view not of pupil, but of the instructor.
At best, the most skilful teacher can only erect an
educational tent over her class. She may erect it

150

TEACHING AND LEARNING 151

dramatically in expert fashion, "but as the crowd
of pupils assembled under it are individuals who
vary widely in mental and moral equipment, only
a small proportion of them will be able to follow
or to assimilate her efforts. The bulk of them will
find the tent either too small or too large for them.
They will be near to or far from the "speaker's
idea." It is after all her work, not their work;
her speed, not their speed; her interest, not their
interest. Not until learning is envisaged from the
learner 's point of view will our youth come out
from school really educated. Not until school ma-
chinery is reorganized and the energies of the
pupils released from the time-table and the class-
tent will they begin to develop that initiative, re-
sourcefulness, and concentration which are the in-
dispensable preliminaries to the process of learn-
ing.

Under the old system the teacher has become
the chief actor in the play. She is, perhaps uncon-
sciously, occupied in trying to impress her person-
ality and her ideas upon the children. But the
Dalton Plan reverses these parts and gives the
duld's personality a chance; the teacher's part
being to accompany the enfolding life step by .step.
This is not to relegate the instructor to an inferior
plane. To understand the child and to keep pace
with his growth she must grow herself, for the
same fundamental laws that govern growth pre-
vail on every successive plane.

The true business of school is not to chain the

152 THE DALTON PLAN

pupil to preconceived ideas, but to set Mm free to
discover Ms own ideas and to lielp Mm to bring all
his powers to bear upon the problem of learning.
A contract job upon which lie must exercise Ms in-
genuity is in the nature of a challenge to which he
responds automatically. Even if at first he does
not know quite what to do with his responsibility,
experience and freedom together will soon bring
understanding. Experience is the best and indeed
the only real teacher.

Parents have often asked me why it is that bad
language and bad habits wield such a fascination
over children. The reason, I believe, is that in
adopting them he is conscious and has the joy of
acting as a voluntary agent. As such he often
seizes upon and forms a habit which no amount of
punishment will divest him of. The attraction lies
not so much in the evil thing, itself, but in the sym-
bol of freedom which it represents. Thus he de-
lights in the sense of liberty Ms voluntary adop-
tion of it gives Mm. Why not let him have this
same sensation in connection with work and learn-
ing?

"At what age," I have also been asked, "does
a child become sufficiently conscious of Ms experi-
ences to profit by them?" I am inclined to think
that at nine or ten the normal cMld is capable of
appreciating Ms experiences, and that he should
then begin to learn to organize Ms work on that
basis. He ought, at that age, to be ready for his
first job. Certain facts must, however, be kept in

TEACHING AND LEARNING 153

mind in any consideration of a child's educational
needs. There are, roughly speaking, three sepa-
rate periods of development which should be taken
into account. Up to the age of eight the child
should be allowed such freedom as will develop his
individual powers so that he can function later as
a responsible member of the group. This is the
reason for, and the purpose of, freedom. During
the second, or pre-adolescent, period, between
eight and twelve, he must acquire the " tools of
knowledge." These will prepare him for adoles-
cence, between twelve and twenty, which is the
third stage in Ms development. This last, owing
to the physical change it brings, is the most diffi-
cult, from the point of view of work and concentra-
tion. Unless we help the child to build up its
character in the pre-adolescent period there is a
danger of his following the line of least resistance
during the critical years of adolescence because he
will not have sufficient intellectual ballast.

Liberty is at all ages equally vital to the child,
for he is as truly an individual in infancy as at any
later stage of his life. The Dalton Laboratory
Plan is designed as a step towards the solution of
those problems which are peculiar to the second
and third periods of his evolution.

la infant schools where freedom of work Is prac-
tised, the teacher prepares and presents a grada-
tion of stimuli in the form of material objects.
The careful presentation of these objects at the
time when they appeal to the child is enough to

154 THE DALTON PLAN

lead Mm, step by step, through tlie various sub-
jects of a curriculum. It is evident that at this
stage the teacher is really the controlling lever.
The extent of control and the benefit derived by
the child is determined by the character of the
material objects placed in Ms environment.

At the pre-adolescent stage of a child's life the
problem changes with his growth. Now, in addi-
tion to freedom and a selected equipment, the
pupil should begin to play a part in initiating and
organizing his own pursuits. His released energy
and intelligence must be used to achieve some pur-
pose of which he is really conscious. Here the ex-
tent of his achievement depends upon his ability
to organize not only Ms studies and Ms equip-
ment, but Ms time to better and better advantage.
TMs means organizing Ms life, then and there-
after. In infancy, the power of concentration is
shown by prolonged attention, whereas in pre-
adolescence concentration is apt to become of
shorter duration, but of much Mgher power. The
pupil then requires another kind of freedom. At
the earlier stage environment was .so conditioned
as to control and develop him, now he should con-
tinue Ms development by learning to control Ms
environment. If he is not permitted to do this the
power he generates at this age may control him
unless he learns to control it.

Modern psychology and its discoveries throw
much light upon pre-adolescent problems. It
teaches us to replace the inductive methods, dear

TEACHING AND LEARNING 155

to the old scliool of pedagogy, by deductive
methods. "We have now learnt that a general idea
of the thing to "be accomplished is essential, not
only for the fundamental purpose of arousing the
child's interest, but also so that he may intellectu-
ally appreciate the purpose of the demands made
upon Mm. The goal to be aimed at is to the child
like a carrot to a donkey it keeps him moving on-
wards. A project ahead, provided for in terms of
a contract job, is the best illustration of the deduc-
tive method. When the child has a project in
front of him, which he has determined to carry out,
his interest may be temporarily, but is never per-
manently, side-tracked. The same thing holds
good in adult life. Without projects it would not
be worth living, nor should we be able to live it to
any purpose.

Until the Dalton Laboratory Plan showed the
new and better way many teachers, while cherish-
ing a theoretical faith in freedom for the child,
seem never to have discovered how to reconcile
this idea with the task of carrying out a curric-
ulum. They have regarded the problem as if it
consisted of two irreconcilable elements instead
of realizing that only by liberating the pupil can
the curriculum ever be thoroughly and satisfac-
torily carried out. The new method demonstrates
this unity, and in -so doing changes the attitudes
of both teacher and pupil towards the work to be
'done and towards each other.

If the curriculum is gradually mastered by the

156 THE DALTON PLAN

liberated pupil in his pre-adolescent period, he will
possess a body of correlated knowledge which will
serve as a ballast for adolescence. Armed with
the " tools of knowledge, " that stage may be pro-
ductive of wider powers for building a super-
structure of real culture upon a sure foundation.
Without this fundamental basis he will have noth-
ing but sand to build upon and may even lose the
desire to build altogether.

But modern psychology can help us -still more
in the testing of individual capacity among pupils.
If such tests do not cure the weakness of chil-
dren who are sub j ected to them they do reveal those
weaknesses very clearly. On one occasion an emi-
nent psychologist applied a series of such tests to
pupils in a large secondary school in England.
They showed that the students varied enormously
in their mental power. The discovered individual
capacity was recorded by a number known as the
"intelligence quotient/' or, as scientists call it, the
"LQ." In this instance it ranged from high to
low, but, strange to say, the academic accomplish-
ment of these pupils was not found to correspond
to their intelligence quotient. Many pupils with
a low "LQ. M far excelled the achievements of
others with a high " I.Q. " This demonstrated that
the conditions prevailing in that school were not
calculated to permit mentally superior .students to
do justice to their capacity. Fourteen months
later, after the school had been reorganized on the
Dalton Plan, a similar test was made. To my

TEACHING AND LEARNING 157

great satisfaction the tests revealed that the most
intelligent students had, through this method, at-
tained the highest accomplishment worthy of their
powers, the lowest accomplishment coinciding with
the lowest intelligence quotient, I strongly recom-
mend school principals to have recourse to these
psychological tests which should, of course, he
applied by an expert unconnected with the estab-
lishment both before the adoption of the Dalton
Plan and again a year after it has been put into
operation. If at the end of the second year the
test were again applied, and revealed a failure on
the part of any individual pupil to do work com-
mensurate with Ms "LQ., M then that pupil should
be regarded as an abnormal case for whom a
special curriculum should be devised. His failure
will probably be traced to some defect of health
or character.

Of course, schools, like individuals, possess dif-
ferences, and occasionally very marked differ-
ences, of character and personality, gome will
therefore be slower than others to adapt them-
selves to the new organization. But the difficulty
found in adjusting the school collectively to the
fresh angle of vision is merely proof of the great
necessity of the change. Patience is essential in
getting over the transition period. When an auto-
mobile is being overhauled the machine is at a
standstill. It is the same with a pupil struggling
with the new freedom the new plan gives him.
While a child is striving to master an inert or a

158 THE DALTON PLAN

disorderly mind, lie will, to all appearances, be at
a standstill like the motor. Only wlien lie lias
learnt how to work will lie begin to make progress,
but once in good working condition Ms speed and
efficiency -should be evident. I have come in con-
tact with many pupils of excellent ability who,
after four years of school had very poor records
of accomplishment. This failure conld almost in-
variably be traced to the fact that such pupils had
habitually used their energy and intelligence to
avoid work and to create discord in the school.
Several months were required to correct these
habits. But as soon as their natural talents were
redirected under the Dalton Plan, I have often
noticed that children who were formerly recalci-
trant eame out best in the end and surpassed all
rivals. I may also add that those teachers who, at
the beginning, were doubtful of, and even hostile
to, the new method, frequently became its most en-
thusiastic supporters. A little tact in the inaugu-
ration of the change will conjure many of the
initial difficulties. Do not introduce it to the
pupils with a long sermon oil the amount of good
it will do them. The best way is to explain it as
simply as possible, taking care that its mechanism,
especially as regards the graphs, is thoroughly
understood* It is advisable, moreover, to proceed
by degrees. Instructors should first of all learn
to make assignments. Let at least one month
elapse before making any experiment In interac-
tion of groups, which means socialization. When

TEACHING AND LEARNING 159

the pupils are thoroughly conversant with the new-
plan of individual work, an interaction of groups
in two or three laboratories where the teachers
are eager and expert may be attempted* Later
on, such co-operation can be extended so as to em-
brace the whole school.

In the beginning there will probably be a wide
divergence in the time spent by each individual in
the completion of his contract. To a certain ex-
tent this can be regulated by dividing the assign-
ment into minimum, medium,, and maximum, as I
have already indicated in a previous chapter. The
Dalton Plan, when put into operation, will grad-
ually reveal the different rates of speed and capac-
ity of the different pupils, Eegular examina-
tions are usually found to be unnecessary after a
time for the generality of students* I have found
in the instance of younger children that it is use-
ful to set apart fifteen minutes each morning to
enable pupils to collect their ideas and their ma-
terials before settling down to work, and also to
report, say, on two mornings out of the five to
their class or house adviser, for consultation on
the use of time to be distributed to eliminate a sub-
ject difficulty. The matter of oral lessons must
largely be left to the judgment of each instructor,
and to her knowledge of the individual pupils. I
would like, however, to impress upon all instruc-
tors the necessity of abandoning the old idea of
trying to keep the class or form together. It is a
fallacy which, in view of the difference of speed

160 THE DALTON PLAN

and ability in pupils, lias never been, and can
never be, a reality. Five pupils can no more be
kept together than forty, and the sooner teachers
get rid of this illusion which haunts the minds of
some of them the better it will be for the school.
Keeping together implies coercion, and the chief
aim of the D alt on Plan is to abolish coercion in
any shape. It envisages as much the liberation
of the teacher as the liberation of the child.

Under it, both should function to better advan-
tage. Her more intimate observation of child
nature and the importation of pleasure and in-
terest into the lives and work of the children
should wield an immense expansive influence upon
the personality of the teacher* She will no longer
be engaged in thrusting information down unwill-
ing throats, or in exacting uninteresting tasks
from apathetic pupils. From being the pursuer
the teacher becomes, under the Dalton Plan, the
pursued, whose advice and sympathy is sought
and valued. And this change of relationship is re-
flected not only in the success and happiress of
the children, but also in the success and happiness
of the teacher.

In order to give concrete illustrations of this
change of attitude I asked seven instructors all in
the same school to state frankly their opinion on
the new plan, and what it means to each of them.
In this particular school the plan has been for two
years in operation, and none of the teachers had
any idea of writing for publication.

TEACHING AND LEARNING 161

The Mstory man wrote as follows :

"When I came to teach under the Dalton Lab-
oratory Plan two years ago, with ten years 7 ex-
perience in the regulation schools behind me ? I ap-
proached my new problems with great interest,
but not without some wonder and doubt as to the
merits of the new plan. I went into it with eyes
open, eager to find therein a better means of train-
ing the child and making him a better citizen.

"One of the first things I discovered was that
under the Dalton Plan I could arouse much more
interest and enthusiasm for history in the chil-
dren than under the old system. This was because
the children went at their work, seeing beforehand
the whole job and the purpose of it all The
monthly assignments did that. I can still remem-
ber how I hated history when I was at school my-
self, how I loathed the thought of reading "the
next seven pages/' not having any idea what I
was moving towards ! Under the Dalton Plan the
children do know what they are moving towards,
and I find that the children, without exception, are
actively interested in history. Such interest on
the child's part begets enthusiasm on the part of
the teacher to make his assignments more attrac-
tive than ever, and to build up a lasting enthu-
siasm for the subject.

"The Dalton Laboratory Plan gives a teacher a
great opportunity to know the child, an opportu-
nity which he can never get in dealing with a class,
no matter how much he tries. Here the teacher Is

162 THE DALTON PLAN

more the big brother and friend than he is a pre-
ceptor or instructor. He deals with a child indi-
vidually, and so gets more intimately acquainted
with him. The teacher is merely one member of
the social circle, and the child goes to him with
problems to talk over just as one person in a com-
munity goes to an older friend. There is a won-
derful opportunity for the teacher in this, and
also a wonderful responsibility.

"The problem of discipline is greatly simplified
under the plan. Where the child is impelled to his
work by interest, he will naturally be a better
citizen in his school than where he is trying to
*put something over' on his arch enemy, the
teacher. Of course, in the beginning there is some-
times a thoughtless child who disturbs and upsets
the equilibrium of his neighbours, just as such in-
dividuals are always found in a community.
Pupils of this sort are cared for and put in their
places by public opinion among their fellows.
Disciplinary action by the teacher becomes rare.

"The Dalton Laboratory Plan means to me a
blessed relief from the deadly routine of the class-
room and a great opportunity to study individuals
and by learning their needs to help them to de-
velop into strong characters and useful citi-
zens." E. W. B., History Instructor.

The geography mistress sent this statement:
"If I were asked what feature of the Dalton Lab-
oratory Plan appeals to me most, I should specify
the co-operative relation between pupil and

TEACHING AND LEARNING 163

teacher which develops under it. Every child in
my department now appears to me as an Interest-
ing and sympathetic person, with qualities and ca-
pacities of which, in many cases, I should hardly
have suspected the existence. The children, on the
other hand, regard the teacher as a friendly ex-
pert engaged with them upon a highly important
piece of work.

"The denial of the creative impulse of the
worker in the interest of cheap quantity produc-
tion, and the sharp class barriers erected between
employer and employee have their counterparts
in the school of to-day. The adoption of the Dai-
ton Plan, after a period of academic and auto-
cratic teaching, might almost be compared to a re-
turn to the Mediaeval Guild System with demo-
cratic intercourse between master and apprentice,
and respect for work as the corner-stone.

"It would be a mistake, however, to assume that
less ground is covered under the Dalton Plan than
under the old system. The reverse is generally
the case, because the children are stimulated by
the assumption of responsibility to greater effort.
The plan does not pretend to lend itself to the
hasty covering of an elaborate curriculum, nor to
the acquisition of large amounts of pre-digested
intellectual food." L.E.

The science man expresses himself as follows :
"In working under the Dalton Plan the teacher
finds himself confronted with an experience that
is both new and pleasing. He finds to Ms surprise

164 THE DALTON PLAN

that tie majority of pupils approach their work
with an interest and enthusiasm which, tinder the
old system, was confined to a very small minority.
The teacher's former role of the driver who
handed out bits of predigested information has
changed. He now becomes the tme helper whose
advice is sought on many and varied problems
which are very real to the children. They are no
longer working to escape his criticism, or to re-
ceive his plaudits, bnt rather toward the accom-
plishment of a definite task. Each child feels that
the work of all is his own particular task, and the
teacher becomes his councillor who will help him
to achieve it. This spirit of enthusiasm is con-
tagious, and the laggards are usually carried
along with it. This is, perhaps, the first impres-
sion that the instructor receives who works for the
first time under the Dalton Plan, and, as in the
case of the children, his enthusiasm is whetted at
the start" E. D. O.

The English mistress is equally appreciative :

"1. The Dalton Plan offers the advantages of
individual work. It leads to an understanding of
the child and an appreciation of his difficulties.

"2. A feeling of sympathy and friendship be-
tween teacher and child is established. The child
comes to consider the teacher a helper and friend,
and approaches her with many of his own prob-
lems.

"3. There is real joy in working with spon-
taneous children. The plan creates spontaneity.

TEACHING AND LEARNING 165

"4> The work is stimulating. Each individual
presents Ms work in a different way, and this re-
leases the teacher from a monotonous and set
method of teaching.

"5. The actual writing of assignments each
month tends to systematize the plan of work

"6. The teacher has an opportunity to devote
her time and energy to teaching because the prob-
lem of discipline makes itself a small factor."
O.K

The mathematics mistress reports :

"From tJie Pupils' Standpoint. In my opinion
the pupil is the one who derives the greatest bene-
fit from the Dalton Plan, and rightly so. If there
was ever a time in the world's Mstory when we
needed people who could tMnk and act inde-
pendently, now is that time. Much of the failure
in present-day polities is due to the fact that poli-
ticians are the slaves of other men's opinions. A
pupil who works on the Dalton Plan cannot help
doing Ms own thinking. He must rely upon Ms
own resources, and surely that is what is expected
of him in after life.

"Many people can do certain things well, but
they f ail lamentably when it comes to fitting those
things into a larger scheme. It seems to me that
the system of monthly assignments gives pupils a
big outlook on their work. No matter how well
they do one subject, the whole task is not satisfac-
tory unless all the parts fit in. The completed
task is like a large building wMch will collapse if

166 THE DALTCM PLAJNT

one girder is weak. The children seem to realize
that each subject must come up to a certain stand-
ard if their month's work is to be a success.

"From the Teacher's Standpoint. I feel sure
that the average teacher wonld enjoy her work
much more under the Dalton Plan than under the
old class system. She can be free and at ease with-
out losing her dignity. It is a great relief not to
feel stilted and unnatural towards one's pupils.
Now one feels like an older friend advising a
younger one.

"Much of the failure of the old system was due
to the fact that the teacher often found it impos-
sible to locate the difficulties of the different
pupils. A pupil cannot work even one day on the
new plan before the teacher has found out some of
his weaknesses. This simplifies her task.

"A really good teacher only tells her pupils
what they cannot find out for themselves, "We do
not remember what we are told, but we do re-
member what we have to work hard to get 7 '

0. H. P.

After a year's experience of the Dalton Plan it
was extended to the department of Art and Music,
and though at first the teachers in these subjects
had a good deal of difficulty in reorganizing their
work on the new plan, they became as enthu-
siastic as their colleagues when its beneficial in-
fluence became apparent in better work and a finer
spirit*

TEACHING AND LEARNING 167

I give here tlxe comments of these two instruc-
tors:

The art mistress says: "I like the atmosphere
the Dalton Laboratory Plan creates in the labora-
tory. It is industrious, the children having come
because of interest. It is thoughtful, the children
intent on working out for themselves their prob-
lems through the assignments, asking help of the
teacher only when a point needs further explana-
tion* It Is spontaneous, the children being able to
get at the teacher when she is most needed at the
particular time of their interest. It is quiet and
orderly, inspiring one to work.

* * Quite frankly, I am surprised to find how much
I enjoy the Dalton Laboratory Plan. On the whole
I now enjoy the laboratory period more than the
class time. The class time is helpful in checking
up the individuals as a class and so forth.

"I like the opportunity the Dalton Laboratory
Plan gives for individual work. The teacher has
more freedom so that she can help a child as long
as seems necessary. The other children, having
the assignment to work from, will not be losing
time while she is thus occupied.

"The Dalton Laboratory Plan eliminates re-
peated directions, for the directions are all writ-
ten out clearly in the assignment and the slower
children can re-read them as many times as neces-
sary for their understanding of the problem/*
H. T. B.

168 THE DALTON PLAN

The music mistress states: "The Dalton Lab-
oratory Plan strikes a new note in musical educa-
tion. It gives an opportunity for individual ex-
pression which was not possible in class work

"Often the child's apparent lack of musical
appreciation is due to a command which he is not
prepared to execute. As a result he acts through
imitation. Under the Dalton Laboratory Plan Ms
own experiments and experiences in music make
him feel that music is a part of himself.

"Inaccuracies are more apparent and irritating
in music than in other subjects. Only when diffi-
culties are eliminated through individual work is
a child's appreciation extended, or is he able to
do his part in group work, Le., in the singing of
part songs, in the orchestra, and so on.

"The Dalton Laboratory Plan permits the
teacher to work with the children's undiluted in-
terest. Personally I find that it gives me a feel-
ing of great satisfaction. There is a thoroughness
and a real progress without the interrupting and
ruinous drill. The problems of discipline are elim-
inated and I find demonstrated in the attitude of
the children as they work in the laboratory the
xeal harmony for which one always aims." A. D.

In order to complete the picture I quote some
opinions gathered from pupils of eight to twelve
years. These children belonged to fourteen differ-
ent nationalities, and their views given orally and
taken down by a stenographer at the time were
quite spontaneous.

TEACHING AND LEARNING 169

"We liave never discussed the plan of
work used by the school since we began to use
It. As I do not know how you feel about the
plan I would appreciate your telling me
whether you like it or not. I am asking for
information/'

L 9 aged 12 years. "In this school a person

that can't work as quickly as others in a par-
ticular subject takes that much more
time for that subject and finishes all there is
to be done, I like it for that reason. The
record cards make each boy and girl do their
work quicker because they can see just how
much they have accomplished. They do the
work better because they all want to finish
their assignments, and the contract cards keep
them in touch with each other's work. In
other schools if you are sent into the mathe-
matics room with your class you can't change
and go into the English room when you're
tired* But in our school, if you have been do-
ing mathematics for some time you can
change and go into some other room for a
little while and then go back to mathematics
if you want to. In other schools you have to
work every minute, and if you try to stop to
rest for a minute they make you go on. Here
you can .stop and rest and then get down to
harder work again."

D 9 aged 10 years. "If you are doing geog-
raphy in other schools you take an awfully
long time and don't finish, and then you have
to go to mathematics, and you just sit there
and waste time because you have done the

170 THE DALTON PLAN

mathematics already. In this school you can
take the time saved on mathematics and put it
with the geography time, and have enough time
to get the geography finished right. If you
study home work at night you are tired in
.school, and if you are made to work you don't
do it well. Here, if you are too tired to work,
you just sit still and read, and then pretty
soon you feel like doing it. You never do
things well that you are made to do. "

H , aged 9 years. i * When you don't get a cer-
tain amount of work done in other schools
you have to take it home and study it, and that
makes you awfully tired. Here you just go on
with it the next day. After a hard day ^ work
at school you don't feel like studying at home.
I like the plan because each one has ample
time to do his work in, and if you get tired of
doing one thing you can do another thing. I
like the work better than I do in other .schools.
My main reason is that when you are absent
you can begin to make up your work the next
day* In other schools they may give you 50
minutes to do work, and it doesn't take you
all that time, or sometimes they give you too
little. You have to have just enough time to
be suitable/ *

G 9 aged 10 years. "I like the plan because

we can go on and do our work and not be held
back by children who are slower, and also be-
cause we can work hard and get through
quickly, and get credit for the work we do
well."

W > aged 11 years. "In some schools when

TEACHING AND LEARNING 171

you go Into arithmetic yon have to do arith-
metic for half an hour, and you have to do so
much, that you get mixed up. Here, when you
begin to get tired and can't make your mind
work right on one thing, you can go into an-
other room and forget all about the first thing,
so you don't get muddled up. Later, you can
do the first thing. "
, aged 9 years. "At the end of the month,

if you do your work very well, you are re-
warded by your own satisfaction, and besides
that, you may be put in a higher class."

QUESTION. "Wouldn't you like to have some
other reward given to you a medal or a book
or something you very much wanted? ??

AJSTSWEB. "No, that's not necessary, the satisfac-
tion is enough. I'd rather just go ahead."

QUESTION. "At the beginning of the year I don't
think you liked the plan at all, and you did not
do as good work. What was the trouble f

(This question was unfair, but it was given
as a challenge.)

V - , aged 9 years. "We were so glad to get
into a school where we could be let alone for a
little while that we took a vacation."

E - , aged 9 years. "At the beginning of the
year everybody was thinking more about
other things than about the work, ' '

P - 9 aged 10 years. "We did not understand
how to work."

{ G - , aged 9 years. "In the beginning, we were
istill a little shy because we did not know the
teachers and what they expected of us. We

172 THE DALTON PLAN

hadn't been used to tlie way of working here,
and we had been used to all taking the same
subject at once, and then we didn't get the
same attention."

j > aged 9 years. "At the beginning they

were used to another way, and it took them
some time to understand."

QUESTION. "Do you feel you need a recess in the
morning V 9 (We call a " break 7 ' a recess.)
They ail said "No." One boy ? aged 10 years,
explained, "No, we take a recess ourselves
when we are tired. "We can sit down and
read."

QUESTION. "You have told all the nice things,
what about the faults of the plan?" The
children said they had no fault to find with it.
This was unanimous.

One boy was appointed by the other children to
come to me afterwards. I was at tea with a small
group of people when the child came in. He said:
"I beg your pardon, may I speak to you?" My
reply was: "Certainly, what is it?" He said,
quietly: "It is something private. May we step
into the next room? ' * I went immediately. Then
he proceeded: "I don't want to be rude, Miss
Parkhurst, but the children think you do not like
the plan. They like it very much, and they have
sent me to ask you why you don't like it? Aren't
you going to get behind it ? " (He meant * * support
It")

I assured him that I was interested and would,

TEACHING AND LEARNING 173

to the best of my ability, ' get behind the plan. * > I
sincerely appreciated the interest shown in their
challenge. It became, from that moment, more
than ever THEIB plan, and I was helped to a better
perspective.

The children in this school have no "home
work," though they are supplied with cultural
reading lists as a guide for filling unoccupied time.
Some of the boys entered the school with very
poor records, one or two having been in f onr dif-
ferent schools in as many years. When their
energy was harnessed by the Dalton Plan to a real
job, the majority gave an excellent account of
themselves, and even the slowest child got through
his year's assignment. The staff agree that the
children have become more simple, straightfor-
ward, and enthusiastic, and free from emotional
conflicts* The nervous mannerisms with which a
few were afflicted have disappeared. As a body
they are mature, but not in the least sophisticated.
They have, in a word, found themselves.

In conclusion, there is one point which I want to
emphasize. The Dalton Laboratory Plan must
not be regarded as a cast-iron scheme. I offer it
as a first step towards the evolution of a scheme of
education which will develop the creative faculty
in both teachers and pupils. I have been animated
in elaborating it by a desire to remedy some of the
ills our schools are heirs to, and especially the
worst of these, which is, I believe, the absence of
opportunity for the learner to learn. Teachers

174 THE DALTON PLAN

go to training colleges to acquire the art of teach-
ing before they practise it, so pupils should be
given the chance to acquire the art of study before
they can be expected to learn. I am content that
the Dalton Plan, which I have not even sought to
brand with my name, should be judged by its fruits.
Those fruits have already, on the testimony of
numerous teachers and pupils, changed for the bet-
ter the mental and spiritual life of the schools to
which the plan has been applied. This testimony
gives me faith that the benefits there reaped will be
ultimately carried into the social and politic life of
the world. I do not claim to have perfected my plan.
Many minds must concentrate and co-operate upon
it if it is to be a living and vital thing. If it stimu-
lates sufficient interest to attract the finest
energies of the educational profession to the task,
I shall be amply rewarded for my part of the great
work.

CHAPTER IX

A YEAB'S EXPEBIMENT IN AST ENGLISH SEOOFPABY
SCHOOL*

By EOSA BASSETT, M.B.E., M.A., Head Mistress
Streatham County Secondary School

THE article in the Times Educational Supplement
of May 27th, 1920, set many people tMnking. The
Dalton Plan seemed so simple in its conception, so
far-reaching in its possibilities, that one wondered
"why it had never been thought of before.

"We, although a large school now of over 700
girls, decided to try the experiment as soon as we
could. Thanks to the broad views of the Board of
Education and of the London County Council we
have been able to test it for over a year, with the
result that we feel it enlists, more than any other
plan does, the co-operation of the pupil in her edu-
cation. It has undoubtedly made her study more
than before, though its effects may not be at once
apparent, for naturally the ordinary testing de-
vices cannot gauge the growth of the child *s under-
standing. We are, in fact, but slowly finding out
tow to test intelligence.

* Beprinfced by kind permission of the Times.
175

176 THE DALTON PLAN

The plan seems quite simple in America because
there pupils in a High. School rarely carry more
than six major subjects. In an English school
most students carry nine or ten, but the plan is
carried out better in an English Public School be-
cause we have more freedom here. It is carried
out better, too, in an English school because the
teachers are better trained and better qualified
and have more freedom and leisure than in an
American High School. Of course, the plan suc-
ceeds only when the staff is capable and keen as
well as qualified and trained. It is due to the
hearty co-operation of the staff here that we have
been able to undertake it at all.

At the beginning of each month every girl re-
ceives a syllabus of work to be done in each sub-
ject. One lesson at least is given in each subject
during the week, the subject matter to be taken in
these lessons being usually indicated in the -sylla-
bus.

The whole of Tuesday morning and part of
three afternoons are devoted to class lessons.
There is a fixed time-table for these occasions. In
addition to this, the third forms have lessons on
Thursday morning: thus the greater part of the
school have all Monday, Wednesday, and Thurs-
day mornings for free study. There is group work
on Friday mornings. Each mistress announces
beforehand the topics to be dealt with; she^may
perhaps summon some individuals to attend, but
in the main attendance is voluntary.

A YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 177

Subjects are, as far as possible, studied in sub-
ject rooms, where the subject mistress may be con-
sulted. Each, girl is expected to see the mistress
at least once a week on an average, apart from set
lessons. She may, of course, stay the whole ses-
sion in one room if she wishes. The mistress is al-
ways there to advise her, or to correct her work
There are subject libraries in the subject rooms.

Every girl must be present at the set lessons,
but apart from this she may arrange her working
time at school and at home as she pleases. Her
free time at school is 34 periods of 40 minutes
each, minus set lesson periods; her home work
periods should not be more than from 5 to 15 in a
week, according to her position in the school. She
is responsible for giving the right proportion of
time during the month to all the subjects in her
Curriculum, and she indicates on the charts in the
subject rooms the time she has given and the
amount of work she has done.

A girl must satisfy the subject mistress before
she begins the next syllabus. This may be estab-
lished by test, or by any method that the mistress
finds most suitable for the girL

Assignments are given in three parts in each
subject.

1. Lower. This should be within the range
of the slowest girl in the class, and must be
done by all-

178 THE DALTON PLAN

2. Middle. Gives opportunity for wider
reading and deeper thought

3. Higher. Encourages the brilliant girl
to study as far as she can go.

Middle and Higher pupils do not encroach on
the nest month's assignment. Grirls choose grades
for themselves ; sometimes the weakest have to be
advised not to attempt too much.
APPOBTIONMEKT OF PERIODS (subjects and forms).

The first column gives total periods that should
be spent weekly (lessons and study at home and in
school)* The second column gives number of class
lessons. Optional subjects are shown by an
asterisk.

Forms :

Total
Lessons.

Total
Lessons

Total
Lessons

Total
Lessons.

Total
Lessons.

Scripture ....

1 1

1 1

1 1

1 1

1 1

English . .

5 2

6 2

6 2

6 2

6 1

History

3 1

6 2

Geography

French ... ......

3 1

6 4

6 3

6 2
6 2

6 2
6 2

6 1
6 1

2nd Foreign
Language
j^jithiriietic.

6 2

6 3*

6 2*
3 1

6 2

Mathematics
Science .........

2 1
3 2

6 3
6 2

6 2
6 2

6 2*
6 2

6 2

6 2

Drawing

3 1

3 1

3 1

3 1

1 1

Needlework

3 1

3 1

3 1

3 1

plus
3 2*

Cooking. .

3 1

or
3 1

Singing

2 2

1 1

1 1

1 1

1 1

Gym. and Games

3 3

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

A YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 179

History and geography are taken in alternate
years by the third and fourth f orms, and for half
the year each in the lower fifth form. In the upper
fifth pupils may take either subject, or both.

A teacher does not necessarily give a lesson in
the class lesson period. She may merely give an
explanation or direction and allow the class to
^tudy during the rest of the period.

Ideally, all work should be carried on in the sub-
ject rooms ; in reality, with us, a certain amount of
work has to be carried on in the Hall. Although
every mistress has outside lier door a table show-
ing on what days, or parts of days, the room is
open to certain forms or open to all, it sometimes
happens that a child starts out with books for two
or three .subjects in her arms and finds each of
those subject rooms crowded* In that case she has
to work in the Hall. Both in subject rooms and in
the Hall girls are allowed to work quietly together*
This is another reason for the gradual lessening
of subject antipathies.

Our School "Parliament" voices from time to
time protests against overcrowded rooms and the
selfishness of individuals who borrow reference
books from the libraries and leave them at home.

"We have learnt much from the children. We
occasionally invite their comments, and when we
do these are candidly and generously given. We
have frequently followed the children's sugges-
tions and amended our plans to the advantage of
"both school and staff.

180 THE DALTON PLAN

The following is a typical set of questions given
to the school at the end of the first year of work
under the Dalton Plan:

1. Does this system alter your outlook in regard
to books and reading?

2. In which subject or subjects have you im-
proved?

3. In which subject do you consider you have not
gained?

4. Do you agree with girls working together?
Does it benefit them?

5. What are the advantages of this system?

6. How would you improve it?

7. What are the disadvantages?

The answers were scribbled down rapidly by the
pupils gathered together for the purpose in the
school hall, and were handed in anonymously,
marked only with the pupils' age, before the meet-
ing dispersed. There are over 700 girls in the
school, but we need consider only six answers
which, by their frankness or na/ivete, throw light
on the spontaneous reaction of the pupils to their
environment.

1. "It has made me more fond of books, and it
has improved my reading. It has also taught
me to express myself better in essays. ?>
"Books interest me more now, for one thing,
if I get through my syllabus quickly I have
more time to read."
"I think that this has made me read more

A YEAK'S EXPERIMENT 181

books, because I look up things and then read
tlie whole book."

"I prefer the widened library. Beading has
helped me a lot. I like the new and more
interesting books we now have in the library
(e.g*, New Liberty) better than old books of
plain facts, etc. ??

"Under the old scheme I should have depended
on hearing what a mistress would tell me and
looked up any books ; now I look up as many
books as possible."

"I take more interest in the books I am read-
ing now because there is a variety, and we do
not now have just to read from one or two
books during the term. For History, instead
of the whole class getting the same idea on a
subject, everyone tackles the subject from a
different point of view/'

2. The majority of girls seem to think they have
improved in History, Geography, and English,
a good many ,state that their Mathematics
and Science are both better under this system.

3. In Modern Languages girls feel that their pro-
nunciation may have suffered. The type of
girl who complains that she has to rely on her
own brains now instead of on the mistress *
thinks that many subjects suffer.

4> In the answers to this question opinion is ^di-
vided. There is no doubt girls like working
together if they are fairly even, and a weak
girl likes to have help from a stronger one, but
many state that the weak rely too much upon
the strong.
"In most cases I think the strong girl does

182 THE DALTON PLAN

the "work while the weak girl thinks slie under-
stands and takes it for lier own. She woiild
learn more if site worked alone. "
"Girls liave a chance to help one an-
other . . . what some girls don't know,
others do know."

"We learn more, for now we have our own
thoughts and another girl's thoughts. "
"It enables you to be more friendly towards
one another."

"Girls have become, on the whole, more
kindly disposed to one another, not so many
cliques are formed; more co-operation. "
"The strong girl gets time to help the weak."
5. "Girls who work quickly are not held back by
the slower girls."

"Those girls who are quicker can get on in
front of others without waiting for them."
"If a girl is behind in a subject the form does
not wait for the girl, but goes on, * '
"The better girls do not have to wait for the
slower ones to catch up, and hear the same
things explained many times when they under-
stand it."

"I have more time and get more work done,"
"I need never pass over a thing which I do not
understand."

"Those girls who are not so quick can get help
from the mistresses, and so get along quicker
than they did before. 3 '

"The slower girls can ask help many times
without feeling the class is going too quickly
for them."

A YEAB'S EXPERIMENT 183

"You can take as long as yon like on a sub-
ject."

"Yon do not have to do a tMng at once, you
can tMnk it over and leave it for another
day."

"The advantages coyer a wide field. Apart
from the wider reading, girls appreciate the
advantage to the individual and the benefit to
the work itself. ' '

"There is no need to keep changing the sub-
ject. "

""Wlien the bell rings you do not have to leave
off in the middle of a piece of work and be ob-
liged to go on to another lesson. "
"tinder the old system we often had to break
off in the middle of something on Monday and
wait until "Wednesday to finish it/'
"You learn to be absorbed in your work."

!And the natural corollary follows :

"We learn to work more thoroughly and not

to be slack as sometimes you can be in

class."

"I can get more work done in school and much

less at home."

"The knowledge gained is not so stodgy. yy

"We learn to work properly and diligently,

and it is not so dull as haying a dry lesson."
Many girls note a change in the moral atmos-
phere of the school, and the setting in of a far
more fundamental discipline:

"There is much more responsibility for us in

this system."

"When I am not under a mistress^ eye I

184 THE DALTON PLAN

I can work better, because it gives me
an idea that I am trusted to work, and so I
do."

"It helps you to learn to be quiet when a mis-
tress is not there to keep you quiet. "
"The advantages of this system are that it
makes girls feel that they are reliable/'
"We leam what the word 'trust 5 means. "

Others note the tonic effect of the system upon
themselves :

"You learn to think for yourself, and not to

depend on a mistress/ 7

"The system helps you not to lean on a mis-

tress.'*

"It teaches you how to teach yourself/'

"I used to rely on the mistresses and do

scarcely any reading, but now I rely on them

less and read much more/'

"I have studied more books than I should

have done under the old scheme, when I should

have depended on hearing what mistresses

would tell me, and should not have looked up

any books; now I look up as many books as

possible/'

"I have found often under the old scheme that

I cannot work out a sum or a theorem or write

an essay from sheer tiredness of the subject.

It is at these times you feel how much more

pleasant your own time-table would be/'

6. One poor child who evidently dislikes both
work and responsibility would improve the plan
by abolishing the whole thing:

A YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 185

if,

I would do away witli tlie whole system*
Nearly all of it. Why should we as Britons
copy Americans, why not use ideas of our
own? Our temperament is not suited to so
much work, as we have not been brought up to
it from childhood, as have the Americans."

Many would improve by abolishing tests or giv-
ing different kind of test :

"For instance, in History I should prefer a
question such as, 'Say all you can about the
Indian Mutiny, its causes, the results on India,
and on government in England and India, "
"In History we had, 'How was the coloniza-
tion of Australia a result of the revolt of
Canada ? ? For the growth of the British Em-
pire I had taken each part separately, and
learnt how they became parts of the British
Empire. I did not make any relation between
them. If the question had been, 'How did cer-
tain parts of the British Empire come under
British rule?' I could have answered that
better, and would have -shown that I knew
more about the growth of the British Empire
than the former question would lead one to be-
lieve. "

Others would have periods for silent work;
many ask for more books and for less crowded
rooms.

7. The disadvantages given are often at oppo-
site points of the compass. Some would have
more lessons, some would have fewer:

186 THE DALTON PLAN

"It takes longer to gather from books that
which can be gathered from mistresses. "
"One of the disadvantages is that a girl is
tempted to leave the subjects she dislikes and
to work only at those she is fond of* This was
avoided when we had to attend three or four
lessons in a subject in a week. ' '
"For girls who cannot concentrate it is far
more difficult to get information from a book
than from someone who can make the subject
interesting and give information away from
the dry facts."

"In learning from books many people cannot
pick out the most important facts, but make
twice as much work by learning trivial points
of no real value. "

It would be folly to imagine that even so fine
a conception as the Dalton Plan finds in any Eng-
lish school universal and welcome acceptance,
either from staff or scholars. The more conserva-
tive teachers naturally, at first, look askance at an
untried scheme, fearing that their authority will
be set at naught and their years of accumulated
knowledge and facility in teaching will become of
little value. But no scheme would be worth con-
sideration if it did not recognize that the teacher
cannot abrogate her authority and responsibility,
and must not waste her experience and knowledge.
The Dalton Plan creates so intimate a bond be-
tween pupil and teacher that the latter becomes
less of an autocrat and more of a guide. Our
stores of knowledge are open to all who wisli to

A YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 187

enter. "If thou seest a man of understanding get
thee betimes unto him, and let thy foot near the
steps of Ms door," said the writer of Ecclesiasti-
cns. "With more freedom in the school this becomes
possible now.

Young, untrained teachers are, moreover, often
unable to grasp, in all its bearings, a change so
new to their experience. Their sole stock-in-trade
is their university career and their remembrance
of how they were taught at school. The lymphatic
teacher again is apt to sit down under the scheme.
She, the pupils, and the plan are three points with
no connection, and she sometimes needs more
supervision than do the pupils, for the feeble, un-
inspired teacher produces followers equally feeble
and uninspired. But the person with faith, ex-
perience, who possesses knowledge of, and love
for, the child, brings forth fruit a hundredfold.
The delight of the Dalton Plan lies in the fact that
It is capable of many interpretations and exten-
sions. The principles of freedom and initiative
belong to the director as well as to the pupil.

On the whole, it is these people who have seen
little or nothing of the workings of the plan who
are most fertile in criticism which may range
from strain on pupils and staff to the size of desks
that fit the varying occupants, or to the length of
a vertical line in marking a graph. The question
of strain on pupils falls under two heads: eye
strain and nerve strain. There are those who fear
that pupils will suffer from reading during too

188 THE DALTON PLAN

long a period. But in reality this rarely happens,
for normal boys and girls do not work to fatigue
point; they stop reading in order to discuss, or
they change their subject.

The question of worrying about work and over
responsibility is, however, a serious consideration
in any school ; if teachers are not alive to the im-
portance of the all-round development, physical as
well as mental and moral, of their pupils, this can
arise in any system. But under the Dalton Plan,
where the teacher is so much more closely in touch
with the pupil, the possibility of worrying over re-
sponsibility is lessened. The child who shudders
at responsibility is just the person who needs a
sympathetic initiation into .self-reliance. Under a
sympathetic teacher she gets this opportunity.
Each child is considered as an individual; her
work and its results are shaped to her needs.
Under any system the heedless child who neglects
her work may get worried and flustered at the end
of the term. Now we find fewer who neglect their
work and fewer who are worried over it.

Any plan at its initiation entails more thought
and more conferences on the part of the staff.
Thought runs in a new direction. No longer does
one think how to bring the matter, the informa-
tion, to the child, but how to lead the child to find
it out for himself. One thinks how to arouse and
maintain that interest in dealing with a subject, so
that work becomes a "breath and finer spirit. "
Naturally, when after much effort the early sylla-

A YEARS EXPERIMENT 189

buses showed inperf ections, and pupils did not do
what they expected to do, a little feeling of disap-
pointment may have made one feel that the work
was heavier than before. But as months went on,
efforts and thought produced so much more re-
munerative work from pupils that this strain was
lessened. Some people seem to think that in the
laboratory periods teachers sit and watch children
work; others picture a queue of pupils each asking
the same question, and the teacher wearied out
with giving the same reply. But the truth is that
the teacher lives, still has common sense, still
guides and suggests, amends and reforms plans of
earlier days.

Maybe the super-specialist laments the possible
disappearance of the inspirational lecture. "When
one remembers speeches and sermons and lessons
that were a joy and an inspiration, one realizes
how much the value depended upon the stirring of
the emotions, and how that value was increased by
discussion or reading afterwards. The influence
of a teacher upon her class is not at its greatest
height during a lesson no matter how inspira-
tional the lesson may be. The brilliant child ad-
mires the fine lesson and values the teacher "f or
that. The average child is moved by it; the
slower child may be awed by it. But for actual
remunerative effort a few words spoken to a be-
wildered child, putting her at ease with her dif-
ficulty, and giving her guidance for the future,
may be more potent than the finest class lesson. It

190 THE DALTON PLAN

is doubtful wi.eth.er any teacher could give more
than one really inspiring lesson a week to every
form. We may give several lessons weekly that
satisfy us; they do not necessarily inspire the
class. Under the Dalton Plan the lesson that in-
spires still has its place, particularly when a new
subject, or a new stage of a subject, or a great
topic is in consideration. The following up of the
forces set in motion by such a lesson is now pos-
sible with, individual work.

There are still others who have a vision of a
jaded staff burning the midnight oil over correc-
tions. The group work should tend to lessen the
amount to be corrected. Group discussion and
inter-group discussion may well take the part of
the written exercise. Wltat is important for every
teacher to remember is that freshness and vigour,
both of mind and body, are more advantageous to
the pupil than a series of thoroughly corrected
exercises which, rarely repay the time so spent
even if they are things that can ~be displayed when
occasion arises.

The proportion of set lessons to free study
period varies according to the needs of a particu-
lar form or the needs of a particular subject at a
particular time. The abolition of such lessons is
not an essential part of the plan, and wliere the
number of pupils to a teacher is large this is prac-
tically an impossibility.

Many critics of the Dalton Plan fear it may
bring a lessening of form spirit, or corporate life.

A YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 191

If class lessons were tlie only essential in the
growth, of form spirit every class in every school
in England would be a strong corporate body.
When the atmosphere of the school and the spirit
of the staff are good, corporate feeling will grow
under any system. The consideration by the
teacher of each child as an individual does not
mean that children pass through school as sepa-
rate units. Groups feel pride in group achieve-
ment, forms feel pride in form achievement,
whether in work or in games. Corporate life is
almost wholly a social development. Class lessons
and mark .sheets will not make a form a living
body.

There is also a feeling that shirkers may lead a
too happy life under the new plan. Of course, the
teacher must keep this danger in mind. It can
usually be arrested by suggesting better work to
them, and when suggestion fails, she can keep
them steadily at work by an individual time-table
till they are fit to enjoy the liberty of the plan.
But as one progresses in making syllabuses which,
must focus the child's view-point, interest becomes
a great incentive and shirkers become few.

Another evil which -specialists dread is that
pupils will work too vigorously at their favourite
subjects and shun their difficult ones. They fear,
too, that pupils will flock to the room of the
favourite teacher and avoid others. Naturally,
the pupil tends to go where she is warmly wel-
comed, encouraged, and helped, and tends to avoid

192 THE DALTON PLAN

the person who greets her with a reproof. Where
any feeling of animosity exists it will lessen the
amount of joy and vigour and success in work
But if all specialist teachers interest themselves in
the pupils' aE-around progress more than in any
special subject, no animosity will arise. All
teachers should realize that children want to learn,
and that every means of helping them to fulfil that
want should be employed, even at the price of
ceasing to be censorious and of becoming a guide
and a friend. The real discipline which a child de-
velops by joyously and steadily pursuing a course
is far better for her character than the feeling of
shame or resentment aroused by reproof, even
though resentment were followed by good work.
The curious thing is that when children have a
choice of subject and of time, and when they be-
gin to exercise judgment, they discriminate be-
tween the popular teacher and the teacher who
helps. To their credit, be it said, they go where
knowledge is. It is well for a child to have an ab-
sorbing interest in a subject, and if one appre-
ciates this at its proper worth, interest spreads
from one to the other subjects* Even if it were
not so, it would still be better for a child to leave
school with this one interest than with a carefully
calculated and evenly spread amount of general
information. The class advisor and the pupil's
graph card help to keep a fairly all-round state
of progress though, of course, some will always

A 'YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 193

work the minimum at certain subjects and the
highest in others.

Accuracy and neatness are the next points
-assailed. Any good teacher knows where accuracy
is essential, where neatness is essential, and will
not let the child ruin otherwise good efforts by
failure in these directions. Children appreciate
tests for accuracy; they see their worth. They
like to give up a neatly-written paper well-ex-
pressed and well-spelt, though their rough notes
may be abominable. A child gives full expression
to her ideas in discussion or in writing rough
notes, but ideas can often be hampered by too
great insistence upon writing and neatness.

Oral work and speech training loom largely in
the eyes of other critics. In class work the articu-
late pupils speak during most of the time while
the inarticulate listen, or dream, or stammer forth
a few words. Their ideas have no flow because
they are so conscious of the criticism of their fel-
lows and of their teachers that they are loath to
take up the time of the class. Under the Dalton
Plan a self-conscious child has a greater chance*
She is in closer contact with the teacher; she
realizes that she is not taking up the time of the
class in her efforts to express herself. ^ Moreover,
when dealing with her as an individual, the
teacher can find some point of interest, perhaps
very remotely connected with the subject in hand,
but one capable of unlocking the child's mind and
of enabling her to give expression freely to some-

194 THE DALTON PLAN

thing wMeli interests her. Wlien once aronsed in
tMs way, a cMld grows more and more awake to
other points of view and becomes no longer the
tongue-tied laggard of the class* Correction of
speech defects is received in a far more Mndly
spirit when the child is by the teacher's side, and
possibilities for correction are more frequent
Now oral composition lias become a valuable exer-
cise.

While admitting that the plan may be successful
with the brilliant child, who, in the eyes of the
critic, will take most of the teacher's time, doubts
are often expressed, that it would be less success-
ful witli the slower child. One must confess that
the brilliant cMld progresses at a far greater rate
than before, but, at the same time, one must also
acknowledge that the slower child progresses, too,
at a greater rate and in a far better way. The
very slow child always needs -special considera-
tion, and is able to get it either as an individual or
in a group. The fear that exists in some minds
witla regard to the last type is that such, pupils will
not really enjoy prolonged periods of private
study. First of all, I must point out tliat the pupil
is not obliged to study for prolonged periods. She
may change her subject as she will. Moreover,
she does enjoy discussion of "her study with her
teacher or with other girls. Probably slie would
not enjoy a week of all study with no lessons or no
manual work or drill or games. But freedom to da
some amount of the work by herself certainly

A YEAR'S EXPERIMENT 195

brings with, it increased enjoyment of the work
undertaken.

Another critic asks : " WTiat is the moral effect
of allowing children to choose their occnpation at
certain times when, in after life, they will have to
do what is set before them at a given time?" If a
rigid time-table of class lessons had produced a
nation whose ideals were so high that everything
was done from a sense of duty and discipline a
nation so developed that self-discipline was uni-
versal, one would be disinclined to contemplate
any change in educational methods. But as no
such nation exists, one is justified in hoping that
a change may be for the better, and that an edu-
cation based upon freedom to choose, and to pur-
sue the study that attracts where and when the
student wills may assist us to grow into a nation
competent to choose and pursue its own destiny
rather than one led by the voice of authority
whether in the form of a ranting demagogue, a
trumpery journal, a fashion plate, or a phrase. In
the world people "do what is set before them at a
given time 5 * eitter because it is to their interest,
or because it is their livelihood. Children who
grow up with a joy in the work wMch interests
them wiH be likely to find that interest useful in
their later life. It is certain at all events, that our
education which, allows a child liberty to develop
and time to think and plan must favour the expan-
sion of all the good qualities innate in his person-
ality.

CHAPTEE X
THE DALIO:N- PLAK FOE ELEMEHTABY SCHOOLS

By JOHN EADES, Head Master of Barkstall Road Council
School, Leeds

DALTOK PLAN has come to stay. It has al-
ready secured its place in the secondary school,
and has also been adopted in many elementary
schools. In fact, in various modified forms it had
been in use in some English up-to-date sehools
long before it came from America. I hope to give
such information of the initiation and working of
the new plan in the elementary school as will enable
any teachers who are interested to apply the plan
to suit their own school and their own particular
circumstances*

A number of years ago I began a system of
specialization at the Leeds Kirkstall Road School.
The frequent hearing of -class lessons on all the
school subjects prepared and given by students in
training convinced me of the impossibility of any
one teacher being able to do full justice to every
subject in the curriculum. Tastes, training, dis-
position, and knowledge were all against it. It
was self-evident that a teacher always taught

196

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 197

those subjects best that he knew most about, and
they were invariably the subjects in which he was
most interested. All teachers have one or more
such subjects, and their enthusiasm and keenness
with regard to them often inspire their pupils, and
so secure more and better work with a much less
expenditure of energy.

"We discussed the question at several staff meet-
ings, and talked over the preferences of the va-
rious teachers. Then two or more special subjects
were allotted to each teacher j the time-table was
arranged accordingly, and ever since specializa-
tion.in teaching has been used in our school with
gratifying success.

Yet as time went on, the weakness and waste of
cumulative class teaching in some subjects became
painfully manifest. Listening to hundreds of les-
sons in academic subjects carefully and often
elaborately prepared and seeing the utterly in-
adequate result of it all, turned my mind in the
direction of sectional teaching. Classes were di-
vided into three sections one containing the
clever children, the middle one the average chil-
dren, and the third section the weaker and back-
ward children. This was an improvement on
whole class teaching, yet it left something to be
desired, and we were still faced by the problem
of the individual the problem that each child in
our charge is unique; for no two children in the
world are exactly alike, each one has a personality
distinct from that of anybody else. Every time

198 THE DALTON PLAN

a child exercises Ms will, tlie action lias a separate
and direct effect upon the formation of Ms
character, which as time goes on makes him a dis-
tinct unit, requiring distinct and separate treat-
ment; for we can deal with these personalities
successfully only by treating them individually,
and applying our methods according to the dispo-
sition and capacity of each child.

Some three or four years ago this thought led
to individual work being given to those in the
seventh standard, the cMldren being allotted one
week's work at a time. Then the Dalton Plan
arrived, and that led to further developments.
But before going into detail let me summarize
some of the disadvantages of the class teaching of
academic subjects wMch urged us to adopt a dif-
ferent plan.

Sharp children are held back and dull children
are pushed on, to the detriment of their mental
powers, owing to the teacher's effort to strike the
problematical average.

Lazy children do as little as they can, and
shelter themselves beMnd the more eager ones.

There is very little in the way of co-operation,
and co-operation is one of the vital principles of
successful teacMng. The teacher is tempted to
pour into the minds of the children a load of new
facts, and his teaching resolves itself into "talk a
little, chalk a little, talk a little more"; wMle the
cMldren remain passive, and often become indif-
ferent and mischievous. Any lesson, to be effect-

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 199

ive, must be the children's as well as tlie teacher's,
and more the children's than the teacher's.

Then again, a child has to take stated subjects,
each at a definite time, for a given length of time,
whether he feels in the humour for a particular
subject or no. And the one who finds a subject diffi-
cult can spend only the same amount of time at it
as the one who finds it easy. This arrangement
generates in the child a distaste for that subject;
whereas if he had more time to spend on it and
more help given to him, he would overcome his
difficulties and find real interest in the very work
which once he disliked. And, finally, more rapid
promotion is a serious problem under the ordinary
method of classification. The only way seems to
be for a clever child to spend six: months in one
standard and then pass on to the next. But this
means a serious gap in a scheme of work and
breaks the thread of the child's orderly and gradu-
ated education, which, in the long run, probably
does more harm than good,

To avoid these disadvantages, some subjects
should be taught individually and others in groups
or classes.

All teaching can be broadly divided into two sec-
tions : (1) That which aims at the development of
the mental powers, and the acquirement of such
knowledge as is necessary to make an intelligent
and useful citizen; and (2) that which has for its
object the development of the physique, the culti-
vation of the social sense, and of the emotions.

200 THE DALTON PLAK

With these two aims In mind, we can, broadly
speaking, divide our school subjects into two
groups corresponding in the main to these two
aims:

1. The academic subjects e.g., reading, mathe-
matics, physical science, composition, spelling,
grammar, history, geography, art and handicraft
corresponding to our first aim.

2. The physical, social, and emotional subjects
- e.ff., physical training (including games and
dancing), music, literature, outdoor rambles, for
nature study and sketching, and lantern lectures,
corresponding to our second aim. There will be
some overlapping in (1) and (2), but nothing det-
rimental to the plan.

The academic subjects will be taught individ-
ually, and sometimes in small groups where chil-
dren are at the same stage. There will be individ-
ual co-operation the younger ones will be en-
couraged to seek help from the older ones, and the
older ones will be encouraged to give it.

The other subjects will be taught in classes, but
the classification will be mainly an age classifica-
tion and not one of standards. In these lessons
there will be communal co-operation ; and it is only
by a happy use of both kinds of co-operation that
the best social life and the finest character can be
attained.

The first thing to do is to decide on the stand-
ards to be brought within the scheme; ours are
standards IV to VIII. When that is done, ar-

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 201

range the classrooms for the various subjects
according to the work allotted to the different
members of the staff. Our rooms are arranged
and labelled as follows :

The Hall Beading.

Boom 1 Art.

Boom 2 History and Geography.

Boom 3 English (composition, spelling, and
grammar).

Boom 4 Mathematics.

Boom 5 Science and Handicraft.
The teacher who has specialized in the subjects
named takes charge of his room and the work that
has to be done in it. I take charge of the reading,
which is, of course, silent reading, and that brings
me into close and frequent contact with every
pupil in the upper part of the school.

A monthly allotment of work in each subject is
made out by the teacher responsible and fixed on
the classroom wall or notice board. It does not
exceed an amount which can be done comfortably
by a child of ordinary ability. Children are al-
lowed to copy this into their notebooks either as a
whole or in parts as they require them.

At 9.30 a.m. the gong is sounded, the scripture
lesson closes, the children move out into any room
they prefer, and stay there as long as they like ; so
there may be, and there usually are, children from
all the given standards in any one room at the
same time. Some stay for half an hour, others for
an hour, and a few for a whole morning. Each

202

THE DALTON PLAN

pupil plans out Ms own work, and does it at Ms
own convenience. No slacking is allowed. A boy

WORK RECORD CARD

S = StT WORK. W as WRITTEN WORK.

must be reading, studying, writing, drawing,
modelling, experimenting, etc. The teacher ques-
tions each one briefly on Ms study work, discusses

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 203

points with Mm, and examines Ms written answers
to tlie questions set.

Each, child is supplied with a "Work Eecord
Card." This he keeps in an envelope in his school
bag, along with Ms writing materials and text-
books, for the preservation and safety of wMch he
is held responsible.

When the teacher has questioned a boy on any
part of Ms set work, or has corrected one of Ms
written answers, he marks it with a tick in red
ink. All the teacher's marks on the card are in
red ink ; my initials, as the head master, when the
work for the month is completed, are in black ink.

When the teacher has initialled his monthly
allotment as being completed, he ticks off the boy's
name for that month in his own book, which con-
tains the names of all the boys in their various
standards. When I have initialled the completed
month's work, I enter in my book, opposite the
name of each boy, a number corresponding to the
order of finishing among the boys of the same
standard. In this way we can find out at any
time just where a boy stands in Ms work, and a
request for his record card will furnish the details.

No boy is allowed to go on with any subject
in one month's allotment until he has completed
the work given in all the subjects set for the pre-
vious month. Many children will have the March
work finished in February, and the April work
finished in early March. Then if they prefer they
can spend the remaining time in the month on

204 THE DALTON PLAN

their favonrite subjects and probably they will
be better educated through these than through
any others or they can push on with the next
month's allotment. Most children prefer to do
the latter, and many will complete the year's work
in seven, eight, or nine months, and at once pass
on to the work of the next standard higher. The
slower ones may take 15 or 16 months to do the
year's work; but when they have done it, it will
be well done, and will do them far more good
than merely skimming the work in their efforts to
keep pace with those who are more mentally alert.

Oral lessons are not barred during the working
of the Dalton Plan. The personal, individual in-
tercourse between teacher and pupils enables the
teacher to find out their peculiar difficulties. If
the same difficulty presents itself to several chil-
dren the teacher makes a note of it, and gathers
them round the blackboard, and deals with their
difficulty there*

In other parts of a subject set for study it may
not be possible for the children to obtain all the
necessary information from their text-books, or
the reference books which are provided, and to
which children are frequently sent for further
information. When that happens, perhaps once
or twice a, month, the teacher appoints a day and
time, and puts up a notice, or enters it on the
allotment of work, asking all children who are
studying that subject to assemble in Ms room for
a special lesson. Other children in the room at

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 205

tlie time go to one of the other subject-rooms, and
carry on work there.

Here are a few of onr specimen allotments of
work for a month:

STANDARD IV

HISTOEY

March
STUDY.

(a) How a monastery got its food and money.
(6) The Friars.

(c) A mediaeval town in the time of Edward
III (14th century).

[See Piers' Plowman History, pp. 118-139.]

WOBK.

(a) Make a sketch of the stocks on page 134,
but leave out the drawings of the man and woman.

(6) Give an account of the Friars in your own
words.

(c) What do yon think the streets of Leeds
were like in the 14th century!

(d) Tell what yon know of the trade guilds.

ENGLISH

February
COMPOSITION.

Select any four of the following subjects; col-
lect and arrange ideas on each of them, and then
write compositions on them in your books.

206 THE DALTON PLAN

(a) A rainy day.

(fc) My mother, or father.

(c) A description of a favourite toy.

(d) A letter to a chum telling him what fun you
had in making a snow man.

(e) An accident on the ice.
Give two accounts of this :

(1) By the injured person.

(2) By one of those who went to Ms aid.

Study pages 13 and 14 in your English books.
Write out exercise 10, and underline the pro-

nouns.

Write out the transcription exercise on pages
44 and 45. Learn the words printed in thick black
type, and be prepared to nse them in oral sen-
tences.

SPECIAL LESSOR.

On Monday, February 6th, at 9.30, a lesson
will be given on " Punctuation/ 7 All Standard
IV boys must be present; any others who know
that their punctuation is faulty may also attend.

STANDAED V
GEOMETET

March

(1) Draw an equilateral triangle of 3 inches
side. Divide this triangle into three equal tri-

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 207

angles. In each triangle inscribe a circle which
will just touch, all the sides.

(2) On a given base line, say 2 inches, show
the method of erecting any polygon.

(3) Draw the plan, elevation, and end elevation
of the following hand sketch of a model.

(4) Select any object from the box of models,
and draw the plan, elevation, and end elevation
of it to a .scale half the size.

ARITHMETIC

March
STUDY.

(1) Study the multiplication and division of
decimals on pages 32 and 33 of the Cambridge
Arithmetic.

(2) Draw Figure 1, on page 35, and do what it
tells yon at the side.

(3) Read No. 4 on page 36, and work an ex-
ample of your own on squared paper.

(4) Complete the table about prices at the top
of page 39.

(5) Learn the meaning of Ratio from the ex-
ample at the top of page 43, and study both the
unitary method and the fractional method.

208 THE DALTON PLAN

WOES.

Work examples :

(1) (a), (6), (c) in No. 10, p. 32.

(2) (5), (6), (9) on p. 33.

(3) (3), (4), (5), (6) on p. 37.

(4) (1), (2), (3) on p. 40.

(5) (5), (6), (7) on p. 46.

SPECIAL LESSOR

On Friday morning, March. 10th, at 9.30, a les-
son on "The Uses of Batio" will be given to all
boys in Standard V who are at this stage of the
work. Other boys may attend if they wish to
do so.

STANDARD VI

AET

March

Do the work indicated in any four of the follow-
ing sections :

OBJECT DEAWHJTG-.

Make a water-colour drawing of the group of
objects set up for March in your section of the
toom.

MEMOEY DBAWIKG.

Draw from memory a group of objects compris-
ing a jackplane, a dovetail saw, a mallet and a
chisel. When you are in the Handicraft Depart-
ment notice carefully the construction and shape
of these tools.

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 209

DESIGK,

Draw two border designs, one based on straight
lines and one on curved lines. Paint them, nsing
those colours which, in your opinion, harmonize
the best.

LETTEEIITO.

Study the examples of Roman lettering which
are displayed. The proportions of the letters up
to K are shown. Draw these carefully, making
your squares of 2 inches sides. Notice that cer-
tain letters, such as C f D, Gr, are based on the
circle.

PICTUEE DBAWING.

Waterboys or men playing football. Notice
the positions of arms and legs when one is taking
a big kick. Make drawings of a footballer kick-
ing the football from different positions. Illus-
trate an incident in a football match which may
be entitled" Saved V 9

GEOGRAPHY

February
STUDY.

Study the products and industries of India, and
then the towns and communications.

Read Lay's British Dominions, pp. 50-63. Seek
further information in the reference books.

210 THE DALTON PLAN

WBITTEST WOBK.

(1) In map reading and exercises, do numbers
4, 9, 12, 13 on p. 54, and 3, 15, 17 on p. 61.

(2) In "Things to do" take numbers 1, 2 on p.
55, and 1, 2 on p. 62.

SPECIAL LESSOR

A lesson will be given on Monday, February
27th, at 11 a.m., on "The Value of India to Britain
and the Value of Britain to India. " All boys who
are studying India must be present

BEADING

April

When yon have chosen your book for the month,
enter your name, standard, and title of the book
in the exercise book provided for the purpose.

Bead through the whole of the book before you
write any answers.

If, in reading, you come to anything you do not
understand, ask one of the older boys or consult
the dictionary. If these do not help you, come
tome.

When you have read through the book give
written answers to the following questions :

(1) Which do you consider the best story or
the most interesting chapter in the book? De-
scribe it.

(2) Which person in the book do you like bestf
Say why you prefer him (or her), and tell of one
or two things he did.

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 211

(3) Write a short play, using the contents of
any chapter in tlie book, or write a poem of not
less than three verses about any person or inci-
dent in the book

STANDAED 11

ENGLISH

March
COMPOSITION.

(1) Expand the outline No. 2 on p. 115 of your
English book.

(2) Write out the first portion of the story
given in Exercise 10, on p. 129, continue it, and
add your own conclusion*

Select any two of the following subjects, pre-
pare them, and then write out fully in your ex-
ercise books.

(1) Tour speech as Captain of the School Foot-
ball Team on being presented with the League
Cup.

^(2) A letter to a chum congratulating Mm on
winning a scholarship.

(3) Indications of the approach of spring*

(4) A letter to a boy in India, describing a hard
winter in England.

G"BAMMAB.

(1) Punctuate passages 6 and 7 in Exercise 1,
p. 59.

(2) Change parts 1 and 2 of Exercise 2, p* 61,
from direct into reported speech.

212 THE DALTON PLAN

SPECIAL LESSOH.

On Wednesday, March 1st, at 9.30 a.m., a lesson
will "be given on " Direct and Reported Speech."
All Standard VII boys must be present.

MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE

March
STUDY.

(1) Learn the note on Eatio at the top of p. 12,
Cambridge Arithmetic; that on Profit and Loss
on p. 16 ; and that on Simple Interest on p. 18.

(2) Write out and learn the two formulae for
the triangle given on p. 26, and the formulae for.
the cylinder and cone on pp. 30 and 31.

(3) Eead the notes on p. 37 on commission and
brokerage, and those on pp. 64 and 65 on the areas
of irregular figures*

WEITTEK WOBK.

Work examples :

(1) 3, 15, ,18, 21, p. 10 Camb. Arith.

(2) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 21, 22, 23, p. 11, Camb. AritL

(3) 1, 2, 3, p. 12, Camb. Arith.

(4) 1, 2, 3, p. 13, Camb. Arith.

(5) 4, 5, 6, p. 14, Camb. Arith.

(6) 1, 2, 5, p. 17, Camb. Arith.

(7) 1, 3, 6, p. 18, Camb. Arith.

(8) Work example 3 (Fig. 4) on p. 65, and cal-
culate the area of the deck of the vessel

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 213

EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE

Work out and describe two or more of tlie ex-
periments from Lessons 6 and 7 on tlie cone and
cylinder.

Study Lesson 13 on Specific Gravity, and copy
the drawing on p. 12. McDougalTs Handwork
Science, Book II*

Now let me point out some of the advantages
of this individual method of teaching.

1. The child's individuality is recognized,
studied, and cultivated.

2. Every child can go at Ms own pace. No child
is hindered by having to wait for others ; the slow
child is not hurried beyond his powers, and so
does better and more lasting work.

3. The child with a tendency to be lazy becomes
interested by being allowed more choice.

4. Work is done by the child, instead of for
him; he gains experience by doing, and has the
satisfaction of accomplishing something by his
own efforts.

5. There is no breaking off a piece of work just
when it is most interesting, nor continuing it when
bored or fatigued.

6. There is unity in the teaching. If a child
is absent for a week or two he takes up the work
on his return just where he left off; he does not
lose the thread of his subject, as so often happens
in class teaching.

214 THE DALTON PLAN

7. The cMldren in each room form a family
group ; the older and more advanced children help
the younger and weaker ones whenever they are
appealed to, withont telling thein too much, or
making them too dependent. This cultivates a
helping spirit in the older pupils, and at the same
time fixes their own knowledge more firmly in
their minds, as all teaching does.

8. There is no sharp break with the method of
study in after-school life.

9. There is no marking time when a child
reaches Standard VII, no matter how few children
there are in that standard.

10. Children being free to work at a subject
when they feel most inclined are keener, more
alert, and attack and overcome difficulties much
more readily.

11. A child's organizing powers are developed
by having to plan out and complete his monthly
programme in the given time.

12. Friendly emulation is aroused; the younger
children work hard to catch up to the older ones,
and the older ones are anxious to keep ahead.

13. There is closer personal contact between
teacher and pupiL

14. There is no difficulty with promotion; every
child is promoted as soon as he is ready.

15. For the last year or so of a child 's school
life he may be allowed to do a minimum of work
in those subjects for which he has little or no
aptitude, and then Ms education and training can

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 215

be carried on mainly through those subjects in
which he is keenly interested.

This copy of the time-table will give a good idea
as to the subjects taken in classes in the after-
noons.

Four equal divisions, containing in all from 160
to 200 children, are arranged on an age basis:
Division 1 ages 13 and 14.
Division 2 ages 12 and 13.
Division 3 ages 11 and 12.
Division 4 ages 9, 10, 11.

SUBJECTS.

As indicated, rambles for Nature study or
sketching, or lantern lectures on geography or
history, are specially arranged, and the times
entered in the log book under " Science.' 7 A
course of hygiene and temperance is taken, and
experimental work in physical science is demon-
strated. As the divisions do not correspond to the
standards, the teacher takes experimental and
oral work in science and mathematics with small
groups, while the others work as in a morning.

Elocution and dramatization are taken in the
literature and oral reading lessons. The litera-
ture is taught in classes, so is scripture. It is in
these lessons where the personality of the teacher
in his translation of the author's words and
thoughts and spirit has the greatest effect on the
imagination and emotions of the children. The

216 THE DALTON PLAN

literature is taken on the lines given in my book,
Literature Teaching in Schools A Manual of
Matter and Method (published "by E. J. Arnold,
Leeds, at 4s. 6d. net) . It covers eight years of a
child *s school life.

A weekly debate is taken in Division 1, the sub-
ject and leaders being decided upon by the chil-
dren a week beforehand. This practises the older
ones in thinking while on their feet, and trains
them in giving suitable and logical expression to
their thoughts an exercise which experience of
listening to speakers in other spheres of life shows
to be very necessary.

Handwriting includes writing, figuring, and
general style. This corrects any tendency to slov-
enly work, which may occur when children are
more intent upon the subject matter under con-
sideration than they are on the neatness of the
form in which they express it; though if very
careless work is brought to be examined under
the Dalton Plan in a morning, the teacher puts
his pen through it, and then the exercise has to
be re-written. This leads the child to see not only
that what is worth doing at all is worth doing
well, but that slovenly, dirty, or untidy work of
any kind is an act of discourtesy to the person
to whom it is presented.

Physical training and music are taken by a
specialist teacher, and are taught in the age di-
visionsa much better classification for these
subjects than that of the standards.

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 217

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218

THE DALTON PLAN

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DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 219

Now I "will give a number of questions put and
criticisms offered by visitors, and append my
answers to them.

1. Is not the constant application a strain upon
the children?

We have not fonnd it so. Children can
change their subject when they are tired of
it. After close study or written work a child
can go into the art room, or into the read-
ing room, where he can read an interesting
.stpry or a collection of stories, or into, the
science and handicraft room, and do some
experimenting, or make a model in plasticine
or cardboard of something about which he
has been reading. This relieves any possi-
bility of a strain.

2. But what about the nerve strain upon the
teacher?

Certainly, the teacher is kept hard at work
throughout the morning session, but he has
the management of his subject in his own
hands. He can vary Ms corrections of writ-
ten work with questions on the subject matter
set for study; he can take a few children
round the blackboard for sectional instruc-
tion on some weak point, or he can go among
the boys and chat with them about their work.
These variations will be found quite effective.

3. How do you prevent boys wasting their time
while waiting to be marked?

Each boy who has Ms work ready to be
marked writes Ms name on the blackboard

220 THE DALTON PLAN

and then goes on with further work The
teacher calls out one boy at a time in the
order of names on the blackboard.

4. Do you find children wandering aimlessly
about from one room to another?

No. Most boys stay in a room for an hour
or more. We encourage them to finish a
written answer, map, drawing, or composi-
tion, when they have begun it, before going
on with any other subject.

5. Are your test-books all suitable?

They are the best we can get for the time
being. "When there is a greater demand for
text-books suitable for young children pub-
lishers will respond to it. Teachers should
examine the newest catalogues and choose for
themselves.

6. Do you find any children slacking under the
new arrangement?

They cannot slack without being found out.
Their Work Record Card shows what they
have done in each subject, and they can be
asked to produce it at any time by any
teacher. Then again, by a glance at his own
Record Book a teacher can see at once if any
boy is neglecting his subject, and can call him
up for interview. But the tendency is all the
other way. The difficulty is to get children
to give up work at recreation time and home
time. Many of them work at home of their
own free will, as no home lessons are given.

7. How do you manage when too many children
wish to go into a certain room at the same
time?

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 221

Preference is given to those who are less ad-
vanced in the subject, and to those who have
only that subject to finish in order to com-
plete the month's work. The teacher tells
the children that lie wants six, eight, or ten,
as the case may be, to volunteer to go to an-
other room for the present; and a sufficient
number goes immediately without demur. It
is good training in self -denial.

8. Will not oral work suffer under this plan!
There is ample opportunity for oral work and
for speech training in the afternoon class
lessons, as will be seen from the time-table;
and in the morning session conversation is
frequent among the children themselves, and
between teacher and child.

9. What happens when a child loses his "Work
Eecord Card?

He has to pay a penny for a new one, and
also has to take the trouble to get the teachers
to initial his work over again. This means
that he loses time and money as well as his
card, and so he is very careful with it. Few
have been lost*

10. Do you find that the style of the written
work deteriorates?

Very little. There is a special lesson in the
afternoon given to correct any tendency in
this direction. Moreover, slovenly work done
in the morning session has to be re-written,
and so the children learn by experience that
what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

11. Do you intend bringing any of the lower
standards into this scheme?

222 THE DALTON PLAN

Possibly Standard III; but, according to our
present judgment, not below that, though the
methods in Standards I and II will, in some
subjects, particularly the three R's, be largely
individual. It must be remembered that the
Dalton Plan is not the Montessori System.

12. Has "the freedom allowed had any adverse
effect on discipline?

On the contrary, it is a great aid to discipline ;
it is a training in responsibility and self-
control. When children are interested and
have plenty to do there is no trouble with
discipline.

13. Have you lockers for the boys?

No. All have school bags, and each. ^ one
carries his own books and writing materials ;
each teacher concerned keeps a check on them.
Material for art work, handicraft and experi-
mental science are stored in cupboards in the
allotted rooms. Boys get them as they want
them and return them to the proper places
when they have done with them.

14. How do you deal with a child who has been
absent, say, for three months?

We let him continue at the place where he
left off, but we lessen the amount of work
in most subjects so as to give him an oppor-
tunity to recover the lost ground as soon as
possible.

15. How do you deal with a child who is very-
backward, say, in arithmetic, and fairly well
up in the other subjects?

He is allotted easier work in that subject.
If necessary, he is given work in it that is a

DALTON PLAN FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 223

standard lower. In fact, the work is made to
fit him. We do not attempt the impossible
task of making him fit the work.

16. How does a boy proceed when he has com-
pleted all his subjects for the month with one
exception, and on going to the particular
room where that subject is taken he finds all
the places occupied?

Such a boy is allowed to go to the teacher
of that subject, and tell him his work for the
next month is being held up because he has
not completed that subject. The teacher asks
someone whose work is not so urgent to give
way, and that is invariably done.

17. You allow boys to talk and move about dur-
ing work time. Do you find any truth in the
old saying : "Give them an inch and they will
take a yard?"

The saying is true enough in the case of chil-
dren who have been subjected to the old mili-
tary discipline. Like children whose parents
have ruled them with a rod of iron, and like
army men, when the restrictions are removed
reaction sets in, and its violence is usually
proportionate to the preceding pressure. It
is not true in the case of children brought
up under saner methods. Certainly we allow
children to talk and move about. They must
do that if they are to help one another. But
the rule is that all conversation must be in
whispers, and movement from one part of a
room to another must "be for a definite pur-
pose connected with the subject. "We do not
find the privilege abused.

224 THE DALTON PLAN

18. Is not the Dalton Plan swinging the pendu-
Inm too far in the opposite direction from
that in which the teacher did nearly all the
work?

Not with our arrangement and method* The
teacher does a good deal in the way of advice,
help, guidance, and encouragement, only it is
done with the individual instead of with the
mass a much more impressive and effective
method. And this is in addition to the sec-
tional and class lessons which are given on
new work, or in special points in the subjects
set for study.

19. When do you allow more freedom of choice
as regards subjects I

At present, when a boy has finished his work
for Standard VII, allotments of mathematics
and English only are given to him, sufficient
to occupy six or seven days during the month.
The remaining time is spent on favourite sub-
jects; the only requirement is that a record
of work done shall be kept, and that such work
shall be examined by the teachers of those
subjects. In special cases this plan may be
adopted for children who have not completed,
and never will complete, the work of Standard
TO.

20. My fears are that the inspiration and en-
thusiasm which passes from teacher to pupils
in class teaching will disappear under the
Dalton Plan* What is your view?

It is true that in some lessons, and particu-
larly with some teachers, subtle influences
pass from teacher to children when they are

DALTON PLAN FOE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 225

taught in the mass ; but scripture, literature,
music, and some Mstory lessons are almost
tlie only subjects where tliat happens, and
under our scheme these are taken in class les-
sons. I am of opinion that the influence of
a teacher's conversation with an individual
child on any ordinary academic subject is
much more potent than what is said in a class
lesson. Those of us who are older often hear
sermons or lectures which inspire us, and if
we are privileged to talk over points with the
preacher or lecturer afterwards, the effect is
much more emphatic and permanent. But
how many class lessons have children to listen
to which are boring and useless, and others
where they are not sufficiently interested to
ask a question! If we use class teaching and
individual work in their proper places the
best results will follow.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I

ASSIGNMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED
IN BKITISH ELEMENTAEY SCHOOLS

FOUR ASSIGNMENTS

FEOM r AN ELEMENTAEY SCHOOL FOE BOYS
WHEEE THE TEACHEES SPECIALIZE

HISTOEY. CONTRACT 8.
First Assignment Standard VII

1st Period

The British Empire is one "on which the son never
sets." It comprises vast self-governing colonies, like
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa;
great dependencies like India, large protectorates like
Egypt, and wide-spreading possessions like Uganda and
Nigeria. How was this great Empire built up? To
answer this question fully and well will be our history
for the present year. I am sure you will be more than
interested to read stories of daring adventure showing
the dogged spirit of discoverers and colonists to bear
want, and overcome difficulty; a strong sense of right
and justice on the part of the British race, all of which,

227

228 THE DALTON PLAN

coupled witli deeds of valour, glorious victories on land
and sea, and brilliant statesmanship at home, have
combined to make this Empire what it is to-day. The
little Mother-country of England contains only 50_,222
square miles, and yet the British Empire to-day consists
of nearly 14,000,000 square miles of territory. The
existence of Greater Britain as a State depends upon
her maintaining the control of the seas, and it therefore
follows that our history must begin at that period when
there was great rivalry between England and other
nations for the discovery of sea-routes to new lands.

TMs week I am asking you to read:

"The Story of Christopher Columbus/' " Piers Plow-
man/' Book 3, pp. 54-l, "Christopher Columbus, and
the first Voyage to America/' "Three famous Voy-
ages/ 7 pp. 5-8.

This will count for two days' work. Answer the
questions below, and these will count for three days'
work.

Questions:

1. Make a sketch map showing the known world be-

fore the voyage of Columbus.

2. Give an account of the early life of Columbus.

3. Who discovered the Cape of Good Hope?

4. How did it get its name ?

Show all your work to me before you mark it upon
your cards, and do this with all the written work

2nd Period

We shall continue this week the story of Christopher
Columbus and the first voyage to America. "Three
famous Voyages/ y pp. 8-24.

The reading will count for two days' work, and the
questions are three days* work.

APPENDIX I 229

Questions:

L Draw a map to show the course Columbus took

on Ms voyage to America.
2. "Write a short story of the voyage of Columbus

to America.

3rd Period

The Tudor period is called "the Age of Discovery, "
and all the sovereigns of this period showed their in-
terest In the new lands. It was the beginning of our
great Empire.

Read: "Trade and Discovery/' "Columbus and
Cabot/' "Self Help History/' pp. 38-44.

This is a day's work; the questions given below will
count for four days' work

Questions:

1. "Why is the Tudor period called the Age of Dis-

covery!

2. Name the two countries most anxious to diseover

a sea-route to India*

3. Say how they set about the task.

4. "Why were the new sea-routes necessary f ^

5. "What do you know of the Cabots and their famous

voyages?

4th Period

We are going to read the story of how the Portuguese
were the first to double the Cape of Good Hope and
discovered a sea-route to India.

The reading will be three days' work, and the ques-
tions will make up the other two days.

Bead: "Vasco da Gama and the first voyage to India
round the Cape of Good Hope/' "Three famous
Voyages/' pp. 25-47.

230 THE DALTON PLAN

Questions:

1. Draw a map illustrating Vasco da Gama's voyage

to India.

2. Give the names of the three vessels and their com-

manders.

3. Who was Davane? Why were his services valu-

able to Da Gama?

ENGLISH LITERATURE. CONTRACT 1.
JFirst Assignment Standard V

1st Period

This month's job will be to make a study of the
Ballad.

A Ballad is a simple spirited poem which tells graph-
ically some well-known incident.

Repeat to yourself the nursery rhyme:

"Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he."

Count the number of syllables in each line, and the

number of accents. When you read the three Ballads

we have chosen you will find they were written in this

old metre it is the popular ballad metre.

"The Revenge" (A Ballad of the Fleet), Tennyson

(Boys' Book of Poetry, III).

1. Before you read the poem take from the shelf in the
history room "Scenes from Tudor Times." You
will find on page 130 a most interesting account of
the last fight of the Revenge by Sir "Walter Ral-
eigh, who was alive when the events took place
and had first-hand information. Tennyson based
his poem on this account. Read Raleigh's story
carefully. When you read the poem you will be

APPENDIX I 231

pleased to find how cleverly tlie poet lias turned
the story into verse. (This is one day's work.)
Note; Whenever you read a poem:

1. Bead it straight through. Get a general idea of the

thoughts it contains, and enter into the rhythm or
beat of the verse. Do not stop over words you do
not understand.

2. Now go over the poem again. Do not pass over any

word or passage you do not understand. Your
dictionary will help a good deal. Above aE,
fhirik about the difficulty, try to get at the idea
which lies behind the words. "Write down a list
of the words you have had to look up and learn
them.

3. Now read the poem straight through again. You

will enjoy it more on account of the clearer under-
standing with which you will be able to read it.

4. Read the poem in the way suggested. Find the

Azores on your map (off the coast of America).
If you find any difficulty you cannot solve ask
about it. (This is two days' work.)

5. Imagine you were one of the crew of the Revenge.

Write an account of the fight. (This is two days'
work. )

Hand in your book when you have completed the
composition.

2nd Period

"The Defence of Lucknow/* Tennyson (Boys* Book

of Poetry, III).

1, Take from the history room Warner's ** Survey of
British History." Eead the account of the Indian
Mutiny, pp. 222-225. You will then understand
how the men, women, and children became shut
up in Lucknow. Notice who the leader of the
defence was, and who led the relieving force. (One
day's work.)

232 THE DALTON PLAN

2. Bead the poem in the way suggested last week.

(Two days' work.)

3. Write down any lines which you think specially

striking. If yon can, add a note saying why you
think them fine. (One day's work.)

4. Can you see any ways in which the poet makes the

story vivid? If so, say what they are, and illus-
trate with lines from the poem. (One day's work.)
Hand in your book when you have completed this
poem.

3rd Period

"The Last of the Eurydice," J. N. Paton (Boys'
Book of Poetry, II).

1. Bead the poem in the way suggested. Note the

metre.

2. Follow on a map the homeward course of the ship

from the Indian Sea. Find aE places mentioned
on the map.

3. Notice how the poem falls naturally into the follow-

ing sections:

Verses 1-2. Introduction.
Verses 3-5. The journey home.
Verses 6-8. The coming of the storm.
Verse 9. The wreck.

A poem which tells a story always follows some such
definite plan.

4. Write an account of the breaking of the storm.

(Imagine you are Fletcher.) (This will count as
five days* work.)

4th Period

Commit to memory "The Last of the Eurydiee."
Beport to me when you know it. (Four days* work.)

Note what was said about the sections into which a
"story poem" can be divided. Treat "The Be-
venge" in the same way as I did the "Eurydice."

APPENDIX I 233

Write the divisions in your book. (One day's work.)
Hand in your book when you have finished.

ARITHMETIC. CONTRACT L
First Assignment Standard "V

1st Period

This month you will spend chiefly in revision of
Standard IV work. Revision simply means doing some
work that you have already done once, over again, to
make sure you have not forgotten it.

Let us see what you already know. You know some-
thing about Fractions and Simple Decimals. You also
know the Long Eules. By Long Rules we mean long
multiplication and long divisions, that is, multiplication
and division by bigger numbers than 12 without using
factors.

For the first week's work, then, you will revise the
Long Rules. In MacDougall's "Suggestive Arithme-
tic," Book 5, you will find examples of multiplication
and division worked for you on page 2. Study these
carefully, and ask me about anything you don't under-
stand. Then work at least three sums out of each of
the exercises A and B. That will count for two days*
work. Then work Exercise 5 in the "New Sovereign
Arithmetic, " Book 5, either X or Y. That will be three
days' work

As soon as you have finished an exercise bring it out
to be corrected.

2nd Period

The second week's work will still be revision of Long
Rules, but this time you will multiply and divide sums
of money, weights, and measures, etc.

In MacDougalTs "Suggestive Arithmetic," Book 5
(in future we will call them just "suggestive") you
will find several examples worked for you on pages 4
and 6. Read these carefully and then work one sum

234 THE DALTON PLAN

of each Mud out of the exercises. You should then
be able to turn to page 11 and work either A, B, or

0. If you prefer it, work either X or Y of Exercise
25 in the "New Sovereign/ 5 page 7.

3rd Period

There are some short ways of multiplying and divid-
ing by certain numbers. You will find some of them
mentioned on page 11 of " Elementary "Workshop
Arithmetic." Pay particular attention to multiplying
and dividing by 25 and 125. In some of these you will
have to use your knowledge of Decimals.

For the first two days, make up some easy examples
of your own in the short multiplication and division by
25 and 125. You can test your answers by the long
method. For the next three days' work read what it
says about Measures of Numbers in "New Sovereign,"
5, and work X or Y of Exercise 27,

4th Period

For this fourth week's work you will learn what it
says on page 9 of "New Sovereign," 5, about Multiples
of Numbers.

There are two ways of finding the L.C.M. I think
the second way (by factors) is the easier for what you
want. You will find this work useful when you come
to do Addition and Subtraction of Vulgar Fractions.

Learning the meaning of the terms, and understand-
ing the examples given, counts for two days 7 work.
Exercise 28 (either X or Y) is one day's work.
Exercise 29 (either X or Y) is two days' work,

NATURE, SCIENCE, AND DKAWNG. CONTRACT 2.

First Assignment Standard VI

1st Period

1. The first subject for study is the working of soil.

You have seen men digging, hoeing, raking, and

APPENDIX I 235

weeding gardens and allotments, but do yon know
why they do It? Yon will be able to gather some
useful information from "The Vegetable Garden/ 7
chap. v. This is one day's work. "When you have
read the chapter write down the reasons for trench-
ing heavy soil. (This is two days' work.)

2. Construct a scale 1 in. to 1 ft. and draw the front

of the cupboard to that scale. (This is two days'
work.)

3. Draw the objects set up for you* (One day's work.)

2nd Period

1. Last week you learned the value of working soil, and

how it enabled plants to get at their food. This
week we shall find out what that food consists of.
Eead the paragraph on the Plant Foods, page 36 in
the " Vegetable Garden," as far as "cheapness of
them" on page 43.

Answer questions 14 and 15 on page 49. (This will
count for two days' work.)

2. Construct a scale I l /2 in. to 1 ft. and draw the black-

board to scale. (This is two days' work.)
3* Draw the objects set up. (This is one daj's work.)

3rd Period

1. This week we continue the study of Plant Foods, Ton

must gather what you can from page 43 about
Fertilizers. Eead to the end of the chapter. (This
is one day's work.) Answer question 10 on page
49. (This will count for another day's work.)

2. Construct a scale 2 in. to 1 ft. to read 4 foot and

showing inches. Draw to that scale the top of your
desk. (This is two days' work.)

3. Select an object at home, study it carefully and

draw it from memory at school.

236 THE DALTON PLAN

4th Period

1. This week I want you to learn all you can about

farmyard manure. You must read pages 40-43.
(One day's work.) Answer me the following ques-
tions In your "books :

What are the chief plant foods and what effect each
has on plants! (This is one day's work.)

2. Take a scale of 1 in. to 1 yard and draw a plan of

the room. (This is two days 7 work.)

3. Draw the objects set up for you.

ASSIGNMENTS

FROM SEVERAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
WHERE THE TEACHERS SPECIALIZE

Contract II 1922 HISTORY Class II

1st Week

Our last contract closed with a study of Town Life
In early Tudor days; we shall now note the changes
that are seen by the end of the period. Study "Town
Life in Queen Elizabeth's Days/' chap, vii p. v* In
your note-book set out a clear statement of the changes,
and account for them. Come to me for extra reading.

2nd Week

We shall now begin a study of the changes in religion
and how they affected the people. Study chap, iii, p. v,
"The Dissolution of the Monasteries." Learn the an-
swers to these questions:

What good work had monasteries done during the
warlike Middle Ages?

Why were they no longer so greatly needed?

APPENDIX I 237

Why did Henry VIII want to get rid of them?

How did lie set abont It? "What happened to priors,
monks, building land, other treasures, e.g., books, plate,
carved oak?

What did the poor think about it?

3rd Week

Let us now consider the changes in the parish
churches from chap, iv, p. v. Find out and jot down
the condition of the Church and Its services before the
Reformation ?

After the Eef ormation?

Notice that now the King was Head of the Church,
fresh changes came with every new sovereign. Place a
record of the changes under the name of each sovereign
in whose reign they took place.

4th Week

This week I want you to read all you can about
Wolsey. Begin with "Builders of History/' Book III.
He is an example of a great churchman in the days
before the Reformation, when churchmen took also high
positions in the State, Other books about Wolsey shall
be placed on the table.

GEOGRAPHY

Last month's contract gave us a study of Highlands.
This month we will consider the Lowland countries of
Holland and Belgium. Read In Palmer's "Europe/'
p. 92, the chapter on an ocean, conquest, to see what a
fight the Dutch had to win and secure their land from
the sea. Study from the next chapter the appearance
of this flat land and the work of the Dutch upon it.
Learn points of interest about the towns from pp. 88,
89, and all there is about Holland in T.B.

238 THE DALTON PLAN

2nd Week

TMs week I want you to read as many descriptive
extracts about Holland as you can, then depict in words :
"A Dutch Scene'' as Composition in Geography.

Note-books. The books available will be indicated on
hoard.

3rd Week

I should like every girl to read chap, vii in the little
green book "Europe and Britain"; and also to study
Belgium from Palmer, pp. 103, 108, and from Townley,
as well as from T.B.

Jot down the reasons for her being such a prosperous
little country. Eead all you can about Brussels, Bruges,
Ghent, Antwerp, Namur, Liege, Mons.

4th Week

This week we will take some practical map work. Trace
the outlines of Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France, and
Switzerland, separately ; paste the tracings on cardboard
and cut out. All maps of countries should be on the
same scale so that you can fit them together. This will
help you to visualize their shape and their relation to
one another. Still continue to read stories and extracts
about the western countries of Europe.

Group 4 GEOGBAPBT Standard IV

1st Month

L Position of England in world. (Old lesson.)

Study chap, i, Lay's "British Isles."
Questions:

1. Why is it cooler in England than in Africa!

2. "Why are there fishing towns on the east coast of

British Mesl

APPENDIX I 239

3. "Wliy has Britain become the greatest naval power
in the world ?

IL ORAL LESSON. Making of weather chart.
Question: Trace outline map of England; shade places

where wheat is grown.

III. Study chap, ii, pp. 12-15, in "Human Geography."
ORAL LESSON. Orchard lands.

1. On outline map shade in parts where fruit is grown.

2. Show what the fruit farmers' work is from spring

to autumn.

3. Explain why fruit is grown so plentifully in Kent.

2nd Month

I. ORAL LESSON. Making of weather chart. (For those

who have completed previous syllabus.)
Questions:

1. Draw a map of south-east England and put in the

high ground and the orchard lands.

2. Copy the diagrams showing the positions of Canter-

bury and Maidstone.

II. Study chap, iii, pp. 22, 26, "Pennine Moorlands."
1. Describe a journey from the valleys up to the

Pennine moorlands.

III. Study chap, iii, pp. 26-29, "Pennine Moorlands. "
1. Draw a map of the Pennine moorlands, showing and

naming gaps, and mark in the railways.

IV. Test

3rd Month

ORAL LESSON LIST.

1. The course of a river: Its uses,

2. Contour lines : how they are made from model*

3. Interpretation of contour lines or how to under-

stand what a country looks like by looking at
contour lines (mountains, valleys > etc.).

240 THE DALTON PLAN

PRIVATE STUDY.

I. Study chap, iv, pp. 30-33.

Make notes on following questions :

1. "WTiy must a market town be in a good position

for trade ? Say what you think a good position
means.

2. Explain the position of York. Show why the

Eomans and Normans chose it as a town and
built a castle there. Name the river flowingr
through it.

3. What kind of things would you expect to find

on sale at York?

4. Draw diagram showing position of York.

II. Study pp. 33-38. Answer some questions on Carlisle

and Lancaster as were asked about York.
Note why counties were divided into shires and
what marked the divisions.

III. Study pp. 41-44. Make notes on woollen manu-

facture: (a) at home, (5) in factories. Use
Encyclopedia, pp. 26, 262, 359, 750.

4th Month

I. Drawing of sections from contour map.

Study pp. 43-46 and make notes on the manufac-
ture of cotton goods from the growing of cotton
to the finishing of the cloth.

II. Short oral lesson on "Docks." Study pp. 47-51.
(a) Why is it necessary to have harbours what kind

of things do ships carry to and from England ?
"Why is water transport cheaper than land!
Describe or draw two kinds of harbours,
"What part of a river is called the estuary?
"What is a "Dry Dock"; what Mnd of work is

done there f

APPENDIX I 241

III. Study pp. 51-58.

1. Why is the Humber estuary very suitable for a

port*
What is the port there and what trade does it do ?

2. Why is the estuary of the Mersey a good place for

a cotton port!
On what part of the river is Liverpool ?

3. Why was Liverpool unimportant until recently,

and why has it now become second in impor-
tance?

4. What is meant by exports and imports?

5. Which is the biggest cotton market? Why was

the Manchester Ship Canal cut?
IV.

1. Why is Newcastle an important town?

(a) Note position at important cross roads.
(6) Note estuary,
(c) Note work done.

2. Where does food for factory towns come from?

3. Make notes on fishing say where each Mnd is

found; (a) those caught with a drift net, (Z)
those caught with hook.

4. What are fishing smacks and trawlers?

5. Copy fig. 19, p. 58, showing Dogger Bank, Yar-

mouth Roads, and fishing towns.

ENGLISH (10 years)

3rd Week

COMPOSITION.

A Description. If it is well done I shall be able to
picture it in my mind, seeing every little detail just
as you were able to do in the sentences of last week's
language lesson.

Now, of course, it is impossible to give me something
you don't possess. So it is ABSOLUTELY NECBSSABY that

242 THE DALTON PLAN

you should have a clear picture before you write a
word.

Choose your subject, then forget everything else, close
your eyes, and let the picture form into shape. Do not
stop at the first flash, but stay till you have every detail,
just as though you were on the spot really looking.

Choose your subject from the following:

1. Describe the scene at a busy railway station.

2. Describe a house on fire.

3. (For A and B only-) Describe any particular

place on an autumn morning*

LANGUAGE.

The lesson this week needs careful thought.
1st Day. Study the sentences given on pp. 39-40 (Les-
son 18).

Think over the words given in black type. They show
you something very useful to you in your composi-
tion. By changing a word a little, we may give it
another use. In the words given you, notice the
change made. With these words notice how we can
compare things.

You are to stop at the line on p. 41, and do the exer-
cise on p. 41.

2nd Day. Study the rest of the lesson. There is some-
thing very important to learn here. Find out what
it is and learn before Thursday, when I shall ask
you about it. Do Exercise VII.

BEADING.

Chaps. 6, 7, 8.

Bead through the questions, to remind yourself first.
Make a list of all the words you do not know the mean-
ing of. Try to find out by the way it is used in the
book or by asking.

APPENDIX I 243

ENGLISH
Class IY. (Average age 10 years) 1

4th Week

COMPOSITION".

A Description.

Turn to p. 50, N.B. Boots. Bead through, the whole
of Lesson 22, picturing each little description.

Now think about your subject for the week. Close
your eyes and picture it. Arrange your time so that
you do this just before you have an opportunity of
actually studying it. Compare your mind picture with
the real one. See where your thoughts were clear, and
study the hazy ideas carefully to get those clear too.
Every little detail must appear in your description.

Do not forget that you cannot describe well without
good, fitting adjectives. Lesson 9 will give you illustra-
tions of this:

SUBJECTS :

(a) Describe someone whom you know well.
(&} Describe the picture of the Bed Indian Chiefs
round their camp fire.

LANGUAGE.

Joining words. Lesson 19.

After this lesson you will be privileged to use e 'and"
and "but" in joining sentences. In most cases you
have used these words, especially "and/' badly and
repeatedly.

Study the sentences on p. 43. Find out when "and"
is the best word for joining. Find out why. You will
now be able to make use of it in a similar way in your
compositions. Study the use of "but" as a joining

2M THE DALTON PLAN

word. It Is only the best word for joining when used
in this way.

You may complete tlie sentences on the next page
using "and" or "but" correctly. "Write tliem in your
private notebooks.

Third day's language will be a test on the work you
have studied during the month.

BEADING.

Complete "The Cuckoo Clock."
Answer the questions (on paper).

Dw. I (a) ENGLISH Contract 1

ASSIGNMENT 2 (age 13)

TMs week we shall continue with Sentence Structure
(see Lesson 5).

The model paragraph given illustrates the use of two
classes of verbs. What are they! "What is their effect?

Notice further that action denoted by a Transitive
Verb can be expressed in two ways. These two forms
of the Transitive Verb secure variety in structure.

Examine the paragraph carefully, and analyse its
build. Then write the answer to Exercise I, p. 42.

The Essay which you prepared in the rough last week
must come in this week in its finished state.

Al>DITIONAIa WOEK FOE KEEN PEOPLE

Change the following sentences from loose to periodic,
and state the difference in emphasis :

1. The child pocketed the money and tucked the

bread under Ms thin little arm, and trudged
out of the shop.

2. Just then she covered her face with her hands,

for she could not bear to watch the ascent.

APPENDIX I 245

3. He waited, standing in a bright spot, surrounded

by glittering windows filled witli bright
colours.

4. It had been snowing in a leisurely way all the

long dreary day, so that the roofs and window-
sills of the tiny scattered cottages in the little
village on the mountain were piled high with
thick white covers of spotless snow.

ASSIGNMENT 3

You should enjoy the study set for this week, its title
suggests pleasure. Extract all the beauty that lurks
in the example before you in Lesson 6, and feel the
power of the figures of speech illustrated.

E. L. Stevenson was a master of the art of hitting
upon the most striking comparison. In your reading,
especially of his works, be always on the look-out for
illustrations.

Answer Exercise I, p. 46, writing one thought about
each idea. State in each case whether you have used
Metaphor or Simile.

ESSAY. Stevenson says we get entertainment pretty
much in proportion as we give. And this is one
reason why the world is dull to duE persons. Illus-
trate this thought. See "An Inland Voyage."

Class II 4 ASSIGNMENTS Contract II

(Girls aged 11 and 12 years)

AJE&THMETIC ASSIGNMENT
I.

1. What do you understand by the Metric System?

2. Write the prefixes which denote 100 times, y^,

ft, 10 times, and ffa.

3. What is the Metric unit of (1) capacity, (2)

weight, (3) coinage, (4) length!

246 THE DALTON PLAN

4. What is the English equivalent of (1) a litre, (2y

a kilogramme, (3) a metre f
Work Loney, page 70. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

" " " " " 9, 10, 11, 12.

" " " " " 13, 14, 15, 16.

II.

What is a multiple of a given number?

What do you understand by "a common multiple of

two or more numbers 7 '?

What is the least Common Multiple of such numbers f
What is a prime number?

How do you find the L.C.M. of two prime numbers f
Give the L.C.M. of 4 and 5, 8 and 9, 1 and 7, 14 and

15, 19 and 3, 16 and 7, 24 and 13.
Break up the following numbers into their prime

factors: 18, 104, 35, 26, 32, 96, 54.
What is the L.C.M. of 4 and 6, 9 and 6, 2 and 9, 8

and 12, 21 and 9, 35 and 15, 21 and 49, 24 and

35?
Work Loney, page 22. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.

" " " 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

III.

What do you understand by (1) a proper fraction,
(2) an improper fraction, (3) a mixed number?
Work Loney, page 27. Nos, 4-9.

a

TV,
Work

tt

Loney,
**

f

if

a
i(

page

<i

C

it

27.
29.
30.
30.

31.
31.
32.
33.
33.

ii
it
(t

Nos.

<
CC

15-20.
1-8.
4-8.
9-12, 14.

42-16.
21-25.
15-22.
19-23.
41-44.

A ^ " * ir from Elementary Schools Workig on the Dalton Plan without Specialisation

* One teacher assigns the work to be ine by her own class in all subjects

Write complete notes on

-France throughout the
century:

Settlement, 1815;
Revol agst. Absolutism,

ilevol. agst. Capitalism;

Revol. agst. Imperialism;

A Republic.

Practical. Model
toshow:

,

\Remse,

Lon

S. and C. Interest.
S. and C. Proportio
\Study. Metric System.
tipeed Test. Std. IV, f hr.
'.General Tests. 2.

TESTS.

AL Tiara, TO INCLUDE
LEAST FIVE SUMS.

( Clock Sums.
. 4 Race Sums

I Speed Sums
Practice, 3.
. Proportional l

Tesfe. 3.

CONTRACT ASSIGNMEK|(No.'.3), JANUARY, 1922.

Draw up a chart of the
Levolutions in Europe i

Re-

1830,
1848.

Give Causes and Results

Memorize. Wide Measure.

f Reductions.
{Revise, \ Bringjngtodec.andfr

I Irreg. Areas.
Study. Exchange Sums.
\Swed Test. Mechan. Rates.
{General Tests, 2.

Write notes on the Colon
zation of Europ. Countr

Asia,

Africa,

America.

Feb. 3

Practical Draw to scale:
H. water, Allow
Ceiling, \ fireplace,

rite an account
the

French
Revolutionary

Wars
under Periods.

Compare the
methods of govt
in European
Countries in
1815-1919.

Explain and giv
dates of change

Explain in
own words
six importan'
European
Treaties.
Dates,
Clauses.

SLANDWORK.

Make plans

of the
Battles of
Trafalgar,
Waterloo.

GEOGRAPHY.

l^ert,
Cofeert,
TR irest,
'* Jto-est,
Gsiadi

Gii facts

)raw and cut

out six

suitable

illustrations

of English

History,

1815-1848.

On a map of
the world

show by flags
colonies of
European
Countries.

..

. I Practice,
Rente. ] R e d. O f V.F.'s,

I D.F. of %.
Study. Stocks
Speed Terf. Std. V.
General Tests. 2.

Make a chart, show
chief events of century,
in

Germany,

Italy,

England,

France,

Russia.

Show why the
period after 1870
' is called the
Era of Alliances.

on life

and
ion on

i ms for
'ft of

lice,

'Tea,

Sugar.

regions
ich.

ititude,

-4 Ffealth,

Make a clay

model of
a Battleship

or
Aeroplane

or
Submarine.

SUPPLEMENTARY FOR !

SI KHintries
d lad out,
\SfSe dif-'
fe as chief
I ligatures

TESTS.

Name a region
of:

Enterprise,

Backwardness,

Large Popul.,

Waste,

Advantages,

Disadvan-
tages.

Describe them.

Show how far
Britain is self-
supporting and
howfar de~
pendent in:

Commodities,

Trade.

In India and

Canada,

mention and

describe all

special regions

of industry.

Draw Sketch
Map of, and

describe,
Asia Minor.
Show its main
communica-
tions.

HANDWORK.

Draw a

Route Map

of World,

showing

Cargoes.

Make a Clay
Model of
River
Valley,
Mtn. Range.

Make a
Cardboard
Model of

C.P.R.

Make a
Cardboard
Model of

Globe,

colouring

Climatic

Belts.

ENGLISH.

Debate. Girl Guides.

Essay. Washington Conference.

Reply to following
Office boy, smart, good hand-
writing, accurate figures
Apply, stating full particulars
to C. Kent and Co., 4 High
St., Boston.

Write a few lines to illustrate all
punctuation marks you know.

Debate. Children and Cinema
Shows.

Essay. Story of Ireland.

Telegram enquiring for watch left
behind at holiday boarding
house.

Describe the most striking ad-
vertisement you have seen.

Analyze a poein.

Debate. L.C.C. Economy.

Essay. The " Quest."

Make a list of chief points you
would expect from a boy or
girl seeking situation in your
office.

The Use of the Telephone.

Three Nouns from Verbs.

Three Verbs from Adjectives.

Three Adjectives from Adverbs.

Debate. Domestic Centres.

Essay. London Sales.

Make out handbill for entertain-
ment in aid of Local Charity.

" Myself." A description.

Give examples of:

Direct and Indirect Speech.
Active and Passive Voice.
Direct and Indirect Object.

LITERATURE.

" Fifth Form at St. Dominic's "
(Read half).

"Nature and the Poet."
Wordsworth,
(Summarize.)
"Twelfth Night."

Continue 2nd Scene, ten
lines.
Select Prose Extract.

" Fifth Form at St. Dominic's"

(Read to end).
"Realm of Fancy," , Keats.

Short notes and favourite

lines.

"Twelfth Night."

Scene continued.
Memorize Prose Extract.

" Fifth Form at St. Dominic's"
(Short argument of Story).
Ode to Autumn.'* Keats.
(Paraphase any twelve
lines.)

Twelfth Night."
(Fully describe two charac-
ters.)
Select Historical Poem.

"Fifth Form at St. Dominic's."
Characters, )
Scenes, > Notes.
Setting. f I
Make lists, witn authors, of
poems on
Birds,
Flowers,

Love,
Memorize Historical Poem.

WHEN FINISHED ASSIGNMENT) .

One hour extra per week may be spent
Individual records must be kept,

Jte Subject; , ,

onal Subject (to aid future career),
if Subjects Studied.

To face page

APPENDIX I 247

ASSIGNMENTS

FROM ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS WORKING
ON THE DALTON PLAN WITHOUT
SPECIALIZATION

One teacher assigns the work to be done by her own
class In all subjects. In this same way the Dalton
Plan could be used by teachers of ungraded or rural
schools.

A
See Contract Assignment Chart, folded insert

B
Corrections to "be done first

ARITHMETIC. Longman, pp. 29 and 30.

ENGLISH. Lay, Exercises 30, 30. Write from memory

"Winter."
Write your impressions of Westminster Abbey.

LITERATURE. Read two more "Parables from
Nature " stories. Write titles in literature books
of all the Parables and poems you know.

GEOGRAPHY. Lay's "Europe," chaps. 3 and L

Questions:

1. Draw a sketch map of the English Channel with

the help of the book; then without the book, put
in the chief ports (both French and English)
and ocean routes.

2. Giving about five lines to each, tell what you know

of the following: Landes, Seine and its basin,
Paris, Riviera, and Marseilles.

3. What is the importance of: (a) Toulon, (6) Canal

du Midi, (c) Lille?
What are the most important products of France?

248 THE DALTON PLAN

HISTORY. "The New Liberty," pp. 32-51.
Questions:

1. As concisely as possible give the character of Henry

VIII.

2. What do yon know of: (a) the Battle of the Spurs,

(6) the Battle of Flodden Field?
Give the causes, results, and dates in both cases.

3. Describe the character of Thomas "Wolsey ; give the

chief events in his life.

4. Explain fully why Luther has been given such a

high place in the world's history.

PAPEE L

GEOGRAPHY. "Russia, MacKinder." 266-274.

Lay, 91-103.
Questions:

1. Prepare 103-104, Lay.

2. Sketch map on p. 98, Lay.
Reference Book: Herbertoors, 63-66.

ENGLISH.

1. Prepare a speech.

2. "Write a letter to a miser pointing out the absurdity

of his life. Be courteous and convincing.

3. Spelling. L. March 68-73.

4. Study "The Merchant of Venice."

HISTORY. Oliver Cromwell. John Drinkwater.

Piers Plowman. 92-101.
Questions:

1. Had you been alive in the Civil "War on what side

would you have been on and why?

2. Your opinion of Wentworth: what makes you hold

that opinion f

3. State briefly what led to the Civil War.
4a. "What do you know of the Ironsides?

41. What was the Self Denying Ordnance? "Why
was it necessary.

II

ASSIGNMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED
IN THE COUNTY SECONDAEY SCHOOL,

STEEATHAM

HISTOEY SYLLABUS IX

FORM IV
AGED 14.

Subjects for Study;

The Commonwealth, 1649-1660.

1. The different attempts to rule England after death,

1649.

2. The Foreign Policy of Cromwell.

3. Failure of the Puritan Eule under Richard Crom-

well. Events leading to the return of the King.

1* ATTEMPTS TO EULE ENGLUUSTD.

1. Notice King and House of Lords abolished. A

Council of State established. What really
was the power behind this!

2. Study how Cromwell tried to rule with Parlia-

ment. Why did the rule of the Saints' (Bare-
bone's) Parliament fail?

3. Army now plans Instrument of Government,
1653. Make notes on its terms. Notice how
Cromwell still attempts to rule with Parlia-
249

250 THE DALTON PLAN

ment. Failure because tliat body refuses to
govern, but discusses instead.
4. Government now falls back to the Army. Note
the powers of the Major-Generals. Why were
they hated?
5. LAST OF CROMWELL'S PARLIAMENTS.

Study the document Humble Petition and
Advice. "What addition was made to the Gov-
ernment?

Notice Cromwell's work in Scotland and Ireland
to crush the Royalists.

Exercise: How far did Cromwell carry out in his
government the principles for which Parliament
had fought in the Civil War?

2. CROMWELL'S FOREIGN POLICY.

1. Study the ideas underlying Cromwell's relations

with foreign countries. Note his attitude to
Prance, Spain, and Holland. Make an esti-
mate of Ms prestige amongst foreign powers.

2, Notice the use of the Fleet in (1) capture of

Jamaica, 1655, (2) destruction of pirates, (3)
war with Holland.

3. EVENTS BETWEEN DEATH OF CROMWELL AND BESTOKA-

TION OP CHARLES II, 1660.

(a) Study character of Eichard Cromwell and his

failure to rule
(6) Notice carefully signs which indicate a desire

to return to old methods of government.

(c) Part played by the Army and General Monk.

(d) Declaration of Breda. Return of Charles II.

"Where had he been ? Terms of return.
Think over and discuss the following questions :
Was the Civil War in vain, as the Commonwealth,
was overthrown on the return of the King? What

APPENDIX II 251

good to England remained as a legacy from the

period of Puritan rule?

Books; Warner and Marten, Part II; Tout; Thom-
son; "Piers Plowman/' Book VII; " Documents/' pp.
571-586; Milton's "Poems on Cromwell"; Novel:
"Woodstock/' by Scott.

GEOGRAPHY SYLLABUS IX
For Girls of 15, after a year's work on the British Isles

LOWER V (4 periods per week)
Subject for Study:

A survey of the commerce of the British Isles the
reasons for the position of the United Kingdom in
the trade of the world.

1, NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF BRITISH ISLES.

Study the position of British Isles with regard
to Europe and the surrounding seas. World
position. Note harbours, river mouths, and
ports. Think over the advantages of the
climate of British Isles and the consequences
of these advantages upon products,

2. OUB FOOD SUPPLY.

Make a survey of agriculture during the last

twenty years.

Home Notice home supply of meat and its inade-
supplies, quaey. Study the fishing industry, distri-
bution of fish for home and export consump-
tion.
Foreign From where do we obtain wheat and other

252 THE DALTON PLAN

Supplies, grains ? Source of our meat supplies, fruit
and dairy produce from across sea.

3. THE INDUSTRIES OF BRITISH ISLES.

Study tlie textile industries.

Notice those with, home supplies of raw ma-
terial.

Notice those with foreign supplies of raw
material.

Make a careful study of the "Associated In-
dustries" (dyeing, bleaching, chemicals,
soap-making, oil-refining).

Find out all you can of the iron and steel
industry*

Chief centres of engineering and shipbuilding.
Coal trade.

4. TRANSPORT.

Internal. Railway versus road the modern
problem for passengers and goods.

Find out new air services to the Continent,
and times taken.

5. EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE.

Summarize this trade of the United Kingdom,
noting the country and destination of ex-
port, and country of origin of import.

"Exercises* Answer one of the following:

1. Point out the relation of quick, cheap transport

to trade. How does the transport problem
affect Britain's external and internal trade?

2. Explain the dependence of the United Kingdom

upon foreign supplies of raw material. How
far is the British Empire self-supporting?

APPENDIX II 253

Books: Atlas (notice also maps on board) ; Chambers 7
Commercial Geography * ' ; Adams 9 * * Commercial
^ography"; Howarth's "Commercial Geography";
Britain and British Seas/' chap, i, ii, xiv, xv, 4 xix;
Natural Wealth of Britain/' chaps, xvii-xxii. Look up
e " Times Trade Supplements"; Daily Newspapers.

ENGLISH
SUMMER TEEM 1922

SEED 14: FORM IV IST MONTH

ttaebeth."

Read Acts I and II. Act I, 1: "What purpose is
served by this scene? Act I, 2: Give meaning of
kerns, gaUow-glass, Golgotha. Why does king con-
fer title on Macbeth? "Write a summary of hap-
penings from Act II, beginning to end.

Learn Act I, 5, lines 13-28.

?oems of Homeland/' Book n.

Read " POEMS OK HOME/' Section VI.

What impressions of British Isles would these
poems give you if you were a foreigner ?

Which poem do you think contains the most beauti-
ful descriptions? Quote and give your impres-
sions.

Which shows deepest patriotic feeling?

Does any poem strike you as being rather false in
sentiment? If so, why?

"LOHDON KlVER."

Why is poem written in this metre?
Write out simply what the poem is about.

254 THE DALTON PLAN

Write out phrases which strongly suggest sound;
phrases which sound fine or beautiful.

What passage seems most to suggest the flow of the
river ?

What characteristics of the English does this poem
speak of?

Give one example of following; alliteration, antith-
esis, onomatopoeia.

Grammar.

Bead HARRISON, chap, xiv, p. 102, then do '

Ex. Ill, p. 104.
Eead HARRISON, chap, xv, p. 104, then do

Ex. I, p. 106.

Analysis

of

Complex
Sentences,

Make a table of Pronouns: Personal, Relative, In-
terrogative, Demonstrative, Possessive.

Make a table of Adjectives: Interrogative, Demonstra-
tive, Possessive.

Composition,

1. Write a letter of sympathy to a dear friend who

has just suffered some grave hardship.

2. Write 20 lines in the metre of "Lay of Last

Minstrel," describing Streatham or Tooting
Common. Begin :
"The common stretches broad and green."

3. Write an original story called "The Ghost of Wil-

low Glen."

Middle. Learn any other 20 lines from "Macbeth."
Higher. Bead Shakespeare's life in "Cyclopaedia of
Literature."

APPENDIX II 255

LATIN SYLLABUS

2ND YEAR
AGE 15 LOWER V TTH MONTH

IST WEEK:
Syntax.

Learn BAKERS' "JUNIOR LATIN PROSE," 61-66.

This covers the construction of Questions, Direct

and Indirect.
Bead 18, 21, noting carefully the examples of

Latin adjectives used for English adverbs.

Prose.

Write in Latin, Extracts 118 and 122, NORTH AND
HJLLARD'S "LATIN PROSE COMPOSITION. "

Note that these contain many examples of Indirect
Questions. Try sometimes to use the Ablative
Absolute and subordinate clauses instead of prin-
cipal clauses.

Vocabulary.

Learn perfectly Vocabularies 64-69, and think of
some picture for the description of which you might
use these words.

OVID, Extracts I-IV. Before you begin this there will
be a lesson on metre,

CAESAR, Book iv, chap, xx, xxi

For Higher Division.

Describe how the Romans would attack a fortified
place. See picture cards, and Livingstone and
Freeman, Introduction.
Latin terms.

256 THE DALTON PLAN

N.B. Poetry (Ovid) is to be the most important part
of our Translation this term, but we cannot afford to
neglect prose translation (Caesar) altogether, both for
its own sake, and also because it will help us in our
prose.

2m) WEEK
Syntax,

Dependent Clauses in "ORATIO OBLIQUA." BAKERS,

58, 59.
Study, as a revision, the examples in 22-24; 31-34;

37-41,

Prose.

NORTH AND HILLARD, Extract 125, for practice in
Syntax studied in (a), and Extract 136 which will
test your back work. You will find notes and sug-
gestions on the board.

Vocabulary.

70-75. 75 is very important. Picture different people
as the subjects of the verbs.

Translation.

Ovn>, Extracts V and VI.
CAESAR, iv> 22 and 23.

Higher Division.

Draw a picture of a Roman camp, describe it, and
learn the Latin terms.

Syntax.

APPENDIX II 257

SED WEEK

The Relative with the Subjunctive. BAKERS, 57.
Revision (thorough) of Final and Consecutive
Clauses, 47-50; 52-55.

Prose.

"Write Extract 158, NORTH AND HILLABD. Eevise your

notes on verbs of Fearing.
Write Exercise 146 for practice of the Eelative with

Subjunctive. You should manage without notes,

but if you are in difficulties, you may consult notes

on board.

Vocabulary.

76-79. Make a short story (English) , bringing in as
many of these words as possible. This will help
you to remember.

Translation,

OVID, Extracts VII and VIII to line 20.
CAESAR, iv, 24, 25.

Higher Division.

Describe the Roman artillery (BaUistae, Catapultae,
Scorpiones).

(a) Study pictures,

(b) Study picture of a Roman soldier. Describe

his clothing, his armour ; and his weapons.

258 THE DALTON PLAN

4TH WEEK
Syntax*

Causal Sentences. DAKERS, 67, 68, Revision of
the Supines. See notes and DAKERS, 111, 112.
Eevise notes on translation of must.

Prose.

NORTH AND HILLARD, Exercises 150-152.

Translate only the expressions containing must in

these three exercises.
Extract 162. See notes on board.

Vocabulary.

80-84. Many of these words you know. Devote your
attention to new ones, especially to 84.

Translation.

OVID. Finish Extract VIII and IX.
CAESAR, iv, 26, 27.

Higher Divisions.

How many men in a legion? What were the divisions
of a legion? Who were the officers? What can
you find out ahout a soldier's (fl) pay 5 (b) food.

APPENDIX II 259

GEOMETRY. Syllabus I

FORM IL Age 11
3iu> WEEK. JAN. 28TH

Here are two revision problems. Can yon do themf

1. A man notices that angle of elevation of top of a

tower is 30; on walking 300 ft. nearer it is
60. "What is its height?

2. A man standing at a point o takes the following
bearings: church 47, castle 115, mountain 190,
hayrick 245, flagstaff 280, inn 320. Draw dia-
gram and show direction of these places.

Here are some interesting problems in mensuration.
Draw simple plans where necessary; work clearly
and neatly. %

1. A garden consists of a lawn with a path round It.

The garden is 55 ft. long and 40 ft. broad, and
the path 5 ft. wide. Find area of the path.

2. An oblong garden is 135 ft. by 50 ft. ; it has paths

3 ft. wide running the whole length of its two
long sides. Find area of paths and grass.

3. If the area of a garden is 300 sq. ft.., and its

breadth 15 ft., what is its length?

4. Find area of (a) top of examination desk; (6) top

of small collapsible table; (c) top of large table.
The above examples must be done by everyone. Only
quick girls may attempt the

Middle Syllabus

1. What is the difference between a square foot and

one foot square^

2. How many %-in. squares of glass will fill a

rectangle 18 in. by 10^ in. ?

260 THE DALTON PLAN

3. Out of a piece of paper 7% In. square, a rectangle
4% in. by 3^4 ii. is cut. How many sq. in left ?
If you are very quick you may try the

Higher Syllabus

1. Wall paper is sold in rolls, 12 yds. long by 21 in.

wide. What is area of a roll? How many rolls
are needed for a room 17% ft. by 13% ft. by
12y 2 ft. high, allowing 17 2 / 3 sq. yds. for windows,
etc., and supposing - of paper is wasted?

2. What would it cost to varnish a border, 2 ft. wide,

round a room 15 ft, long by 22 ft. broad, at 1%&
per sq. ftJ

MATHEMATICS

FOBM LOWER V. AGE 15

*HALL AND STEVENS, "SCHOOL GEOMETRY" (Macmillan

and Co.)? CHIGNELL AND PATERSON (Oxford

Press), Part IL

IST WEEK

Eevise Theorems 32, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41. Theorems on

chord properties and angle properties of a circle.
Lower. P. 147, nos. 1-6; p. 149, 8-12; p. 151, 1 and 2.
" 153, " 1-4; " 163, 1 and 2; p. 165, 1-6.

[Typical examples (p. 147, 5) : Describe a circle that shall
pass through two given points and have its centre on a given
straight line. When is this impossible?

P. 165, 5: A straight rod of given length slides between
two straight rulers placed at right angles to one another;
find the locus of its middle point.]

Middle. P. 151, no. 3. P. 163, 3 and 4.

Higher. " 151, nos. 4 and 5 " 163, 5.

* The examples are included here by Mnd permission of the
publishers.

APPENDIX II 261

2ND WEEK

1. Find the area of a triangle whose sides are

(a) 7.34 in., 4.62 in., 5.49 in. [Use Pythagoras.]
(6) Find the area of the same triangle by using
the formula,

A Vs($-a) (s-6) (s-c) where A = area.

$= | perimeter.

a, ~b, c, are the sides opposite the angles, A, B. C.

2. Two cnbes whose edges are 3.46 in. and 5.72 in.

are melted and recast in the shape of a cube.
Find the length of its edge.

Revise Theorems 42-49. Theorems on arcs and
angles in a circle, Tangency, Contact of Circles,
Alternate Segment.

Lower. P. 170, nos. 1, 2, 3, 13-21. P. 177, nos. 1-15.
" 179, " 1-10 " 181, " 1-3,

Middle. " 170, " 11, 12 " 181, " 4-6.

Higher. " 170, " 6-10, 19, 20, 22 " 181 completed.

[Typical examples (p. 170, no. 3) : Two circles intersect
at A and B; and through A any straight line P A Q is drawn
terminated by the circumferences. Show that P Q subtends
a constant angle at B.

P. 179, no. 6: A straight line is drawn through the point
of contact of two circles whose centres are A and B f cutting
the circumferences at P and Q respectively* Show that the
radii AP and BQ are parallel.]

SRD WEEK

1. An isosceles A has Its equal sides 4.62 in. long
and a base of 2.84 in. Find the area. Find
also the length of the perpendicular from either
extremity of the base to the opposite side.

262 THE DALTON PLAN

2. Find tlie volume of a cylinder whose diameter is
4.234 in., and whose height is 28.32 in. Find
also the area of its curved surface.
Problems 21-29: Circles, Common Tangents, Con-
struction of triangles given different elements,
triangles, and circles.
Lower. P. 187, nos. 1-7 ; p. 189, nos. 1-11 ; p. 191, 1, 2, 3.

" 198 " 1-4 " 199 " 1-12.
Middle. "187 " 8 "191 " 4 "198, 5.
Higher. "187 " 9 "191 " 5,6,7.

Typical examples (p. 187, no. 5) : Draw two circles with
radii 1.6 in. and 0.8 in., and with their centres 3.0 in, apart.
Draw aU their common tangents.

P. 191, no. 2. Construct a triangle having given the base,
the vertical angle, and

1. One other side; 2. The altitude; 3. The length of the
median which bisects the base; 4. The foot of the perpendicular
from the vertex to the base.]

4TH WEEK

1. A triangle has an area of 47.6 sq. cm., and one

side Is 8.4 cm. What is the length of the per-
pendicular to that side from the opposite vertex ?

2. (a) Obtain a fornrala for the area of a regular

hexagon of side "a."

(6) Calculate the area of a regular hexagon of
side 4.3 in.

3. A hollow sphere of external diameter 10 in. and

made of metal 1 in. thick, is melted down and
recast as a solid sphere. Find the diameter of
the solid sphere.
Problems 30, 31, in- and escribed regular polygons.

Pp. 207, 208 pedal triangle orthocentre.
Lower. P. 200, nos. 2, 3, 4; p. 205, nos. 1-12; p. 201,

1, 2, 3; p. 206, nos. 1-4, 11; p. 209, nos. 1-3.
Middle. P. 201, nos. 4; p. 206, nos. 5, 6, 7, 9; p.

209, 4-7.
Higher. P. 206, nos. 8-12; p. 209, nos, 8-12.

APPENDIX II 263

[Typical examples (p. 205, 8) : Find to the nearest tenth.
of an inch the side of a square whose area is equal to that of
a circle of radius 5 in.

P. 206, 7: In any triangle the difference of two sides is
equal to the difference of the segments into which the third
side is divided at the point of contact of the inscribed circle.]

ENGLISH SYLLABUS

FORM IA. AGE 10
WEEK ENDING JAN.

Poetry, FRIDAY.

Copy into own Poetry Book four verses of Thomas
the Rymer, and if time do an illustration* Learn
the four verses (any other poem of your own choice
may be learnt as well).

Literature. ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS, chap, xiv,

"Write this for Thursday in Beading Book

1. Imagine you are Odysseus,- then write out a

short account of the way the swineherd wel-
comed you at Ithaca. Explain why he would
not believe what you said.

N.B. You will find it easier to do if you imagine you are
telling someone Telemachus, for example all about tae ad-
venture.

2. Write down any words difficult to spell in own

English Book

Composition, MONDAY.

1. Refer again to GREENWOOD TKEE, p. 198, and if
you don't remember the story read again "The
Man in the Moon."

264 THE DALTON PLAN

2. "Write a scene between the Old Man and the
Stranger, and any other people. Do not use
only the words in the book, but try to imagine
what they might have said to one another.

NJ$. Bemember to write at the "beginning the characters you
introduce, and the place where the scene takes place.

Extra English.

Go on reading HINDU TALES, and write the answers
to each chapter as yon go along.

[Do all the other English first,]

PROGRAMME DU FRANCAIS

ClASSE IVA

1 E * TRIMESTRE 3 E Mois AGE 14

Lecture pour le Mois: "Remi en Angleterre/' chap.
iii, Pere et mere honoreras.

1 RB SEMAINE

A savoir le vocalxalaire de chap, xxi, ALLPRESS (p.
42), et 1'exerciee sur la formation des mots (p. 4).

2 B SEMAINE

GRAMMAIEE: Regies du subjonetif, p. 112, 117, 119,

120. a savoir par cceur les listes.
VoGABULAiBE : voir feuille speciale (Remi).
VERSES: conelnre, mondre, eondre.
DiCTfe: arrangee snr la grammaire et le vocabulaire
appris.

APPENDIX II 265

BXEROICE (en classe). Allpress, Ex. 21, p. 160. Ill
et IV.

(ecrit). Lower: 5 phrases. Middle: 7
phrases choisies dans IV (1-15). Upper:
premiere partie de IV, 16.

3 13 SEMAINE

GEAMMAIRE : a revoir les regies du sub jonctif .

VERBES : se souvenir, se plaire, se taire.

A APPRENDRE PAR ccEUR: "L'histoire de Louis XIV et

du comedien. ' ' '
VOOABULAIRE: feuille speciale.

LECTURE FACTTLTATIVE : 20 pages d ? un des LIVRES ROSES.

(To be tested by Mistress.)
EXERCICE FACULTATIF: une lettre en frangais de Remi

a la mere Barberin, lui disant comment il a trouve

ses parents.

Take note.

1. During the first week of the month there will be a

lesson each day. This leaves only forty minutes 5
work to be done in your free time either at home
or at school.

2. You mU notice that the chapter from "Remi en

Angleterre" set for reading during the month
has not been divided up. Divide it up as you
please. Save your difficulties for a group lesson,
the third period on Friday, March 17th.

3. A special star may be obtained for

(a-) Specially good conversational work.
OR (6)" The LECTURE FACULTATIVE (see front

page),
(c) The EXERCICES FACULTATIF (see front page).

266 THE DALTON PLAN

PROGRAMME DU FRANCAIS

a

UPPER V REMOVE (MATRICULATION FORM)

TRIMESTRE, MOISE. CLASSE DE AGE

1 B SEMAINE

Degre inferieur.
LIRE. BOWEN. FRENCH LYRICAL POETRY.

(a) Le Chant du Depart.

(i) Couplets militaires.

(c) Eonde patriotique,
ECRIRE. Vocabulaire ineonnu an earnet.
APPRENDRE. Vocabnlaire.

Moyen.

Ce qm precede et :

PRPARER. Minssen, " Composition/' les nos. 144, 145.

APPRENDRE. BOWEN, "Extase."

ECRIRK EN FRANCAIS. Minssen, 147.

ECRIRE EN ANGLES. BOWEN, "Le coin du feu."

Swperieur.

Petite narration, precedee d^un plan,
Sujet: Tin or age au mois d'avril.
N.B* Toute eleve devra ecrire la narration.

2 B SEMAINE
Degre inferieur.

LIRE. Daudet, "La Mule du Pape,"
APPRENDRE. Daudet, < De tous , . . liuit jours/'
ECRIRE. Vocafculaire inconnu.

APPENDIX II 267

Moyen.

Ce qni precede et:

PR^PARER. Oran. Nos. 2, 16, 19.
ECRIRE. Oran. Nos. 5, 18.

ECRIRE EN FRANCAIS. Resume de "La petite Fodette."
ECRIRE EN ANGLAIS. Dandet (p. 71), "Quand . . .
Camangue."

Superieur.

Petite narration, preeedee d'nn plan.
Snjet: un orage au mois d'avriL
N.B. Tonte eleve devra 6erire la narration. Eesume

que ce soit des phrases eourtes, dont chaeune

fera etape.

PROGRAMME DU FRANCAIS

UPPER V REMOVE (MATRICULATION FORM)

TRIMESTRE, Mois. CLASSE DE AGE 17

1 B SEMAINK

I Upper. Duhamel, 94. The Cat's Pilgrimage.
Theme. Lower. Dnhamel et Minssen, 132. The Chair

[ stuffer's donkey,
literature. Alfred de Musset ITiomme.
Lecture. Hernani On ne badine pas avee 1 'amour.
Notre Dame de Paris. Poemes lydiqizes.
Corriger les fantes faites a Fexamen.

2 H SEBOINB

Theme. Les memes suite (Diihamel, 95. D. and
Minssen, 133).

268 THE DALTON PLAN

Literature. Alfred de Musset le poete des ^nuits.
Lecture. Les memes suite. Aussi les Nuits.
Essai. La Nuit de Decembre.

3 K SEMAINB

{Upper. Meme suite Duhamel, 96.
Lower. Duhamel et Minssen, 4. Murder of
Marshal d'Ancre.
Literature. Moliere.
Lecture. Les memes suite.

Essai. On ne badine pas avee 1 'amour (compte rendu)
ou Compte rendu l er chapitre de Notre Dame de Paris:.

4 E SEMAINE

Upper. The Cat's Pilgrimage. Suite et fin.
, Duhamel, 97.

Theme. { j jOWer ^ Murder of Marshal d'Ancre. Suite
et fin. D. and M., 5.

Literature. Hernani.

Lecture. Les memes suite et fin, excepte Notre Dame

de Paris.
JSssai. Preparer un compte rendu de Hernam.

APPENDIX III

SOME OPINIONS OF BEITISH ELEMEN-
TARY HEAD MISTRESSES AND CHIL-
DREN ON THE DALTON PLAN

OPINIONS OF HEAD MISTEESSES IN ELEMEN-
TARY SCHOOLS "WHEEE THE DALTON
PLAN HAS BEEN PUT INTO OPEEATION.

LONDON, S.E.

"In the four upper classes of the Girls' Section,
where the children range in age from nine to fourteen,
we have been working on the Dalton Laboratory Plan
for the past six months ; and in the lower classes, some
of the more intelligent children, aged from seven to
nine, have also been drawn into it for special subjects.
Though our school is designed for 250 pupils we have
at present 277, so that each class numbers from forty
to forty-five children. Our class-rooms have been con-
verted into laboratories, but lack of space necessitates
two subjects to each room. As, however, we study
major subjects in the morning and minor subjects in
the afternoon, we do not find this arrangement incon-
venient Thus Mathematics shares a laboratory with
Handicrafts and the English laboratory is also used
for Hygiene, each class-teacher taking the two subjects
and in some cases a third subject as well. We overcome
the difficulty created by the widely varying powers and
speed of individual children belonging to the same class

269

270 THE DALTON PLAN

by dividing the assignments into maximum, medium,
and minimum. In this way the quick and clever chil-
dren are not kept hack hy the slow ones.

"At the beginning of our experiment we certainly
had some difficulty in getting the children to settle down
to work and to assume responsibility in measuring their
own time. But as they became accustomed to their new
liberty the confusion of the first days subsided. All
our teachers are unanimous in declaring that more work
and better work has been done under the Dalton method
than under the old system. Even the dearth of suffi-
cient books to go round seems to have bred a spirit of
helpfulness among the pupils. "We use the graph to
record progress, and on the back of the card a conduct
graph has been added with the letters of the alphabet
to indicate lapses from our standard of discipline A
e= 1 lapse, B = 2 lapse, and so on.

"From the teacher's point of view we do find the
Dalton Plan entails much heavier work. At first I found
class-mistresses spending half their nights in composing
assignments and correcting work, and I seriously feared
we might have to abandon the new method on that
account. None of them were, however, willing to do so
and we have now to some extent got over this difficulty
by reducing the amount of work required in the assign-
ments. Personally I think it essential not to set too
high a standard of work especially at the beginning.
If any of the children finishes her assignment before the
end of the week or month, I have found a few hours
or even a day of quiet reading an excellent way of fill-
ing up the time. Of course every child is free to choose
her book and they seem to enjoy this extra opportunity
of studying a weak subject. Here specialization appeals
to our teachers, as providing them with a chance of
increasing their knowledge, and some of them regret
that the system does not permit them to devote all their
energy to one subject."

APPENDIX III 271

LONDON, W.

"Here so far we have only reorganized one class in
the Girls 7 Section on the Dalton Laboratory Plan. But
the results of our six months' trial have proved so sat-
isfactory that we hope to extend it to two more classes
next term. "We would not go hack to the former method
for anything. The effect on the children is marvellous.
Not only do they take a real pleasure in their work
now but under the Dalton Plan they accomplish far
more than before. "We also find the children more
sympathetic towards each other. As there are between
thirty and forty pupils in this particular class, each
group engaged in the same subject chooses a helper
from among its members to whom those in difficulties
can go when the reader is taken up with another child
or another subject. These helpers are the older and
more intelligent girls, and the class-mistress is of course
always there to check the help they give and to supple-
ment it. In addition to this she has started a log-book
in which all the pupils ' names are entered. Against
them she writes her criticisms of the work of each one
after she has gone over it, adding a word of advice on
general progress. This book is always available for
any pupil to refer to. These devices have enabled the
teacher to cope with the far greater demands which
the Dalton Plan makes on her time aad knowledge.
They also enable the pupil to find immediate assistance
In solving any difficulties that may arise when she is
left to her own resources. My teachers show no inclina-
tion to limit their work to teaching only one subject in
the curriculum. They seem to think such specialization
narrowing to the mental outlook. As the bulk of chil-
dren in Elementary Schools finish their education at
fourteen, the average teacher should surely be able to
meet the demand in all standard subjects*"

272 THE DALTON PLAN

OPINIONS OF BRITISH ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL CHILDREN ON THE

DALTON PLAN

CLASS I 6.12.21

1. I do like the plan by which we are working, (a)
I like to find the information from books, (6) and to
change a subject when I feel tired of it. (c) When I
feel I would like to study, I can do so, but before, on
the old system, I could not have done so. (<Z) On this
plan we have the afternoons clear for the other subjects,
so I like this plan very much.

2. I did not like the plan when we first began, I
could not get into it, it seemed peculiar. I understood
the scheme, but I could not work by it at first But
I like it now. I do not know what the exact trouble
was, only that I could not seem to work by it.

3. I cannot find any faults about the Dalton Plan,
only, perhaps (a) when I am interested in the study
it is time to go home for dinner, perhaps that is called
a fault, or even, I do not very much like (6) copying
the assignment down on Friday afternoons, but these
faults are very slight, (c) and I should like some more
oral lessons.

4. There are not sufficient books for the girls to have ;
for example, there are only two "Piers Plowman/' VI,
and most of the girls want them at once. So it would
be very nice to have some more books for next term,

CLASS I

1. I like the plan because formerly I was content with
a surface knowledge, letting the teachers give me all
the good they had got out of a book, and getting every-
thing they had thought out without first thinking it

APPENDIX III 273

out myself, so that I grew to rely on tliem more and
more, and had hardly an Idea for myself on any sub-
ject. Now, I look through perhaps two or three books,
and when. I find something really good, I feel as though
I had made a new discovery, and thus it makes me much
keener and more interested. Besides, when we are given
our week's assignment, there are always some new prob-
lems which are fascinating to work out, and when I
think I have solved the problem it gives me fresh inter-
est, because I feel as if I were getting on much better.
We have to rely on our own effort now, so that we are
always on the look-out for something fresh on our sub-
jects, and take a universal (I mean as far universal as
we can get) interest in the things going on around us;
and whereas we looked for interest in, say, only one
subject, we now have interest in them all.

Also the plan gives us more time to concentrate on.
the different subjects, though this is where I think
that the plan is not so good, because though we are
given about the $ame time for working as before, we
are required to read a great many more books, and
write a great many more exercises. I don't think any-
body gets her work done in school hours, unless it is
very much the minimum. But, of course, we don't
grudge the time one little bit, only if we had more
time we could spare more time on the extra work.

It also teaches us our weaknesses very much more
than if we just learnt the lessons in which we are weak,
without finding the causes and effects, and so on. It
is just like having to forage for one's food; you learn.
more of the animals and Nature than if we spent a
twelvemonth trying to learn their ways in an academy
or university, while living on the food which is received
and manufactured by others.

2. I think that the suddenness of the plan, took away
our breaths. Besides, I did not wish to change the old
plan ? under which we had worked so long, for a new

274 THE DALTON PLAN

one whose very ideas were new. Tlie teachers, our old
supports, would be gone, and the harder work was not
very welcome, especially when we had got fairly com-
fortable in the old groove. We did not fit our subjects
to the time either, and found when the week was up,
we had scarcely begun one subject, or hardly finished
another.

CLASS II 7.12.21

1. I think it is a very good plan and I like it much
better than the old plan. It gives us more time to get
on and we do not have to wait for others. We can get
on all right ourselves, but it gives the teachers more
working.

2. I think the trouble is that we did not quite know
how to get on alone, and we were not used to it, and
I think some of us were impatient about the books.

3. We sometimes have to wait for books, which can-
not be helped.

4. I think we could have twenty minutes' play in the
afternoons instead of ten minutes in the morning.

5. We could each bring some small sum of money to
help buy new books.

6. As the four top classes are using this Dalton Plan
I think we could have a room for each subject.

CLASS II 7.12.21

1. I think the Dalton Plan is much better and much
more interesting because we are much more free and
can find out things for ourselves, whereas before we
only knew what was told us by teachers.

2. At the beginning of the term we were used to
being told everything and were not at all familiar with
our books. We did not know in which book to look
for the best descriptions of any point, or to find out
what our books really contained.

APPENDIX III 275

3. Although. I appreciate the plan I tMnk tliat it has
several drawbacks : (i) When only one book has a point
which all the class has to study, some girls are unable
to do their work, (ii) There is more moving about.

CLASS II 7.12,21

1. I do like the new way and plan of working in
which I am able to study more by myself. It has many
good points, for example, one need not stop in the
middle of a lesson to continue with a different kind of
subject.

2. When we first started this new Dalton Plan it was
such a change from the old plan that we could not really
settle to our work and therefore some of us did not get
313 r week's assignment finished.

3* There are a few faults: (a) There is only one book
bo go round the whole class, and that is a drawback
because sometimes a girl does not get the book. (6)
The Geography and History room is crowded and some
girls have to go into their own class room and most
likely change their subjects. At first the break at 10
o'clock was very inconvenient to the teachers, but
as it is altered it is much better and wiser.

4. We need more books to go round the class.
This plan is very wise, but it would be wiser if we could
work in the afternoons by this new plan, and also in
Science, Hygiene, and a few games. If we could start
earlier, we should hare more time for play.

Aged 5/12 years CLASS III 6.12.21

1. I like the Dalton plan very much, it is an interest-
ing way of working. In the History and Geography
we get on at our own pace and can learn more by the *
plan, whereas before, when, we had separate lessons
the sharp girls had to wait for the slow ones. It is the
same with the arithmetic, the girls who could get on

276 THE DALTON PLAN

and get thfc sums done had to wait for the others, but
now we can do them any time during the two hours
we are given. In the time, just before the exams, much
more revision can be done which helps us to take higher
places in the exams. It also teaches us to help ourselves
and not always have the teacher watching over us.

2. At the beginning of the term, when we first started
the plan, I did not like it very much. It was new and
we weren't used to working that way, but when we
settled down it was quite alright and I think most of
us like it now.

Aged 11, 5/12 years CLASS III 6.12.21

1. I like the Dalton plan very much; and I think it
very much better because if we could not get on with
one subject, or could not set our mind on it, we could
do another subject, and then come back to it again.
Again, if we had not quite finished a subject at an
appointed time, we could spend a few minutes longer
at it, whereas if we were not using this plan, we would
have to stop, and the work would be unfinished. I
think, too, by being able to finish our work we can learn
more ; or if one week we had a subject which was very
easy, and got it done quickly, we could spend more time
at another.

2. At the beginning of the term we thought we would
never get the work finished, and so hurried through it
and consequently never grasped the work we were sup-
posed to learn; but in two or three weeks 5 time, when
we began to grasp the plan, we found that if we worked
carefully we could get it all done.

3. I have no fault to find in the plan I simply think
it's ripping.

APPENDIX III 277

Aged 12 years CLASS III 6.12.21

1. The Idea of the new plan Is very pleasing to me.
For instance, when I am just getting wrapt up in some
study and the half hour is gone, I ean go on until I
have finished the chapt^n We are free.

2. My trouble at the beginning of the term was this:
(&) I thought I should not be finished my work at the
end of the week. (6) "We were left to ourselves, where-
as before, our teacher took us with our lessons, (c)
I was not quite used to It.

3. The faults of the plan are not many, to my idea.
One is, that there is so much walking about to be done.
Another is, catching up to other girls if you are away.
A third fault Is, that Miss Gibbs's books which she lends
to us to help us in History and Geography may get
frightfully spoilt in time.

Aged 12 years CLASS III 6.12.21

1. I appreciate the plan very much, I feel more
interested while doing the work by myself, and the
quick and intelligent girls need not wait for the slow
ones, but learn more and more to get ahead of them.

2. Not a bit did I like this plan at the beginning of
the term, as I could not understand it, and I thought I
would not progress at all. This would also make me
feel as if I did not want to work If I did not under-
stand It, but as I was told more about It, I began to
understand, and when the first morning of the new plan
came I was feeling very glad,

3. The great fault I find that we do not have enough
time to do our work in the morning, for sometimes when
It is time to leave we are iu the midst of a study. I
sometimes do not like having to copy our contracts
every Friday, for sometimes we have quite a lot.

4 I cannot suggest anything for the next tena.

278 THE DALTON PLAN

Aged 12 years CLASS III 6.12.21

1. I do like this new plan of work, because I
always seem to be able to get on quicker when working
by myself. I also think that I can work much harder.
The work seems easier now than it did before, for I do
not like to have a teacher standing in front of me telling
me what to do, I like to work by myself. This new
plan seems to make me work harder, for I know that
the work must be done, or else I shall be behind all the
other girls, and I should not like that, so I do like this
plan very much, and I hope that we always have to
work by it.

2. I did not like the work at the beginning of the
term, because it seemed so strange, and everything
seemed to go wrong, and I eould not get on with my
work at all. I did not like going into the Geography
and History room* I only went in there a few times
"but now I like going in there, and I have grown to like
tMs plan very much indeed.

3. I cannot find any faults of the plan and I should
not think that anybody could find any.

4. I cannot make any suggestions to help with the
work next term, because I want to still keep going on
with this same plan, and I want nothing to be altered
in the least little bit, if it does I shall not like it, but
I should like a few more holidays.

THE EKB.

1 34 942